Novel human full-thickness three-dimensional non-keratinized mucous membrane model for pharmacological studies in wound healing

Efforts are increasingly aiming to develop in vitro models that can provide effective alternatives to in vivo experiments. The main aim of this study was the establishment of an in vitro model of the non-keratinized mucous membrane that can be used as a standardized tool to evaluate biological and therapeutic effects of pharmaceuticals for mucosal wound healing. Performing histological and immunofluorescence analyses with known differentiation markers we proved that our model mimics the two distinctive layers of the mucous membrane – the stratified squamous epithelium and the lamina propria. In our study we used our model to investigate molecular effects of a dexpanthenol-containing ointment that is widely used in the wound treatment of the oral mucosa. For that purpose our model exhibits a unique feature in that dexpanthenol and proliferation enhancing additives that may interfere with our studies are not required for the maintenance of the model culture. After setting standardized lesions with a CO2 laser, topical treatment with the dexpanthenol-containing ointment enhanced wound closure in our non-keratinized mucous membrane model compared to placebo and untreated controls. Furthermore, microarray analysis revealed that the treatment of our laser wounded model with the dexpanthenol-containing ointment evoked an upregulated expression of various genes related to accelerated wound healing. Overall, we verified that our mucous membrane model can be utilized in future to monitor ex vivo effects of various topical therapies on mucosa morphology, physiology, and gene expression. Our findings confirm the potential of the non-keratinized mucous membrane model as an in vitro tool for the replacement of pharmacological in vivo studies regarding mucosal wound healing.