Stuttgart (dpa) - Scientists at Germany's Fraunhofer Societyresearch organisation have developed a machine that makes artificialskin fully automatically.

If it receives approval from the relevant control bodies in Europeit could make animal testing in laboratories obsolete.

The machine is seven metres long, three metres wide and threemetres high. Inside, small robot arms take care of the work ofproducing skin samples. The machine can also make connective tissueand pigment cells.

At the moment foreskins from male infants provide the cells thatinitiate the process.

"The older the samples are, the less efficient cell productionis," says Andreas Traube, an engineer at the Fraunhofer Institute forManufacturing Engineering and Automation in Stuttgart.

Work is being carried out on using stem cells to initiate the skinproduction process. "It's very important that the initiating cellscome from a uniform source in order to avoid variations duringproduction," says Traube.

Between three and 10 million cells are extracted from each of theinitiating skin samples. These cells are then incubated to increasetheir number by a hundred-fold.

The cells are then placed on a layer of collagen inside aone-centimetre-diameter test tube. The new epidermis that grows isless than one millimetre thick.

When the scientists combine the collagen with connective tissuethey can create a skin with a thickness of up to five millimetres.The entire process takes six weeks.

"We can't speed that up in the machine. Mother nature hasdetermined it takes that long," says Traube.

The machine is completely sterile inside while in the incubatingchambers the temperature is a warm 37 degrees Celsius. It can handleup to 500 trays containing 24 test tubes each at the same time.

Testing is still being carried out to see if the skin samplesproduced by the machine produce the same results as the animal skinused in laboratory testing.

"I think that in about eight months we'll get official approvaland can go into full production," says Traube. Commercial industrialoperations are likely to be the machine's main buyers.

Rolf Hoemke from the trade organisation the Association ofResearch-Based Pharmaceutical Companies believes one area where thenew machine will find a home is the area of developing new activeingredients.

"We think cells found in artificial skin are comparable with thosein real skin," he says. Until now artificial skin samples have onlybeen produced in small quantities. "It makes sense that we can nowmake skin on a large scale."

Hoemke thinks artificial skin will be used in research on cancer,pigment disorders, allergic reactions and fungal infections.

However, he also thinks it could be years before artificial skinmade by the machine is routinely used in testing new drugs: "Theterms of reference for testing new drugs are standardized around theworld. You can't interchange the procedures."

Artificial skin is already often used in hospitals to treatpatients.

Two companies dominate the market for so-called skin bandages,which are between eight and 10 centimetres long, according to UlrikeSchwemmer from the German Society for Regenerative Medicine.

There is a market, however, for even larger skin sections such asthose used to treat burns.

Traube says it will be some time before the machine can make skinsections that big. Right now, the next step is to produce cornea, thetransparent tissue at the front of the eye.dpa kre kll wa pmc hl260305 GMT Dez 11

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인공피부 대량생산 기계 개발

독일 프라운호퍼 연구소는 인공피부를 자동으로 대량 생산하는 기기를 개발했다고 26일 밝혔다.

이 기기는 줄기세포 등의 세포를 배양해 세포 수를 수백 배 늘린 뒤 얇은 콜라겐 층 위에 세포를 착상시켜 두께 1mm 이하의 표피를 만든다.

이후 역시 이 기기로 배양한 피부 결합조직을 표피 밑에 붙이는 방식으로 최대 5mm 두께를 가진 인공피부 조직을 만들게 된다.

지금까지 인공피부는 수작업으로 소량만 생산 가능했으나, 이 기기는 한 대로 지름 1cm 크기의 인공피부 1만2천개를 6주 만에 양산할 수 있다고 연구소는 밝혔다.

다만 인간 치료에 쓰기에는 아직 피부 조각 하나하나의 크기가 작아 연구소 측 은 우선 의학·화학 등의 연구·실험 수요를 핵심 시장으로 보고 있다.

특히 최근 동물실험이 관련 규제와 반대 여론이 늘어나면서 점차 어려워지는 추 세여서 앞으로 이 기기를 통해 생산된 인공피부가 동물실험 시장을 대체할 수 있을 것으로 보인다.

이에 따라 연구소는 이 기기로 생산된 인공피부가 각종 실험에서 동물피부와 같은 결과를 내놓는지를 시험 중이다.

연구소는 약 8개월 후 유럽연합(EU)의 공식 승인을 얻어 이 기기를 시장에 내놓을 수 있을 것으로 전망하고 있다.

다만 앞으로 인간 치료에도 사용할 수 있을 정도로 큰 피부 조각을 대량생산하는데는 다소 시간이 걸릴 것으로 연구소는 예상하고 있다.