01944nas a2200301   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002260001500043653001800058653002500076653002300101100001600124700001700140700001400157700001800171700001800189700001600207700001300223700001500236700001500251700001800266245011200284856005500396300000900451490000700460520116100467022001401628       2023                            d  c2023-03-1710amicrofluidics10aSomatosensory system10aTissue engineering1 aJinchul Ahn1 aKyungeun Ohk1 aJihee Won1 aDong-Hee Choi1 aYong Hun Jung1 aJi Hun Yang1 aYesl Jun1 aJin-A. Kim1 aSeok Chung1 aSang-Hoon Lee00aModeling of three-dimensional innervated epidermal like-layer in a microfluidic chip-based coculture system  uhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37187-4  a14880 v143 aReconstruction of skin equivalents with physiologically relevant cellular and matrix architecture is indispensable for basic research and industrial applications. As skin-nerve crosstalk is increasingly recognized as a major element of skin physiological pathology, the development of reliable in vitro models to evaluate the selective communication between epidermal keratinocytes and sensory neurons is being demanded. In this study, we present a three-dimensional innervated epidermal keratinocyte layer as a sensory neuron-epidermal keratinocyte co-culture model on a microfluidic chip using the slope-based air-liquid interfacing culture and spatial compartmentalization. Our co-culture model recapitulates a more organized basal-suprabasal stratification, enhanced barrier function, and physiologically relevant anatomical innervation and demonstrated the feasibility of in situ imaging and functional analysis in a cell-type-specific manner, thereby improving the structural and functional limitations of previous coculture models. This system has the potential as an improved surrogate model and platform for biomedical and pharmaceutical research.  a2041-1723