Human Skin Production Laboratory in Brazil is Inaugurated in Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil inaugurated on Monday, September 9th, its first tissue bioengineering laboratory that will provide reconstructed skin for product testing. The unit, located in Rio, will provide recreated human skin samples as an alternative to the use of animals in cosmetic tests.

Episkin branch, a L’Oréal subsidiary, was inaugurated at 2 PM at the Research and Innovation Center of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro‘s (UFRJ) Fundão Campus. It is the third in the world to start operating, joining Lyon in France and Shanghai in China.

“Each week we produce thousands of skin tissues and epithelial, such as cornea, with a rigorous quality control”, explained to G1 news site Rodrigo De Vecchi, director-president of Episkin Brazil.

According to De Vecchi, the application of the reconstructed skin model in Brazil began in 2016, in cooperation with the Idor Institute. Episkin’s models are the only ones validated and recommended by the Organization for Economic Development Cooperation – and accepted worldwide.

The “raw material” is the remains of plastic surgeries. The material is disposed of with the authorization of the patient and is sent to the laboratory, where the keratinocytes are extracted.

These specific cells are cultivated on culture plates and, after 17 days in contact with air, they proliferate, forming multiple layers.

In cosmetics testing, the part of interest is the epidermis, the outermost level – and the one that will be produced in Rio.

“This means that it can be used in cosmetic chemical safety evaluations, as well as any kind of product that comes into contact with our skin”, he detailed.

“Our technology reacts to different stimuli, such as chemical agents, light, and stress, releasing specific elements that reflect the toxicological and corrosive potential of new chemical compounds”, he exemplified.

Legislation is still evolving

A normative resolution of the National Council for Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA), an agency linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Communications, provided for the use of alternatives to guinea pigs five years ago.

The text listed 17 procedures and set September 24th as the deadline for the use of validated methods, whenever possible. Brazil does not yet have a federal law on ending animal testing. A bill has been in Congress since 2014.

Eight states, however, have enacted laws to ban the exploitation of guinea pigs for this purpose:

• Amazonas;
• Mato Grosso do Sul;
• Minas Gerais;
• Pará;
• Paraná;
• Pernambuco;
• Rio de Janeiro;
• São Paulo (the pioneer).

Partnership with UFRJ

De Vecchi recalls that UFRJ – where Episkin is based – has been cooperating with L’Oréal for seven years. The university helps in the research for obtaining human sensory neurons.

“The main goal is the innervation of the human skin. It will serve, for instance, for itching tests from skin allergies,” he explained. “It will also be instrumental in the development of more effective products against skin neuro-aging,” he said.

According to De Vecchi, the company has been developing alternative methods since 1979. “In 1989, L’Oréal stopped testing its products on animals altogether,” he recalls.

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