Fabrication of 3D tissue equivalent: an in vitro platform for understanding collagen evolution in healthy and diseased models

In this study we realized a three-dimensional human dermis equivalent (3D-HDE) and, by exploiting multi-photon microscopy (MPM) we validated its use as an in vitro model to study collagen network re-arrangement under simulated solar exposure. The realization of 3D-HDE has been pursed by means of a bottom-up tissue engineering strategy that comprises firstly the fabrication of micron sized tissue building blocks and then their assembly in a 3D tissue construct. The building blocks injected in a maturation chamber, and cultured under optimized culture condition, were able to fuse due to the establishment of cell-cell and cell-extra cellular matrix (ECM) interactions that induced a biological sintering process resulting in 3D-HDE production. The final 3D tissue was made-up by fibroblasts embedded in their own ECM rich in endogenous collagen type I, resembling the composition and the architecture of native human dermis. Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) and Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence (TPEF) imaging have been exploited to assess modification in collagen assembly before and after UV irradiation. Textural features and SHG to TPFE ratio of the endogenous ECM within 3D-HDE have been shown to vary after UVA irradiation, proving the hypothesis that the 3D-HDE realized can be used as biological platform in vitro to study ECM modifications induced by photo-damage.