Artificial skin models for animal-free testing

Since 2013, as ethics for animal experiments has been strengthened in the European Union, artificial skin models have attracted attention as an alternative to animal testing for assessing the safety and toxicity of products. Driven by regulatory authorities and industry demands, various artificial skin models have been developed by combining various biomaterials and human cells as well as using a variety of techniques, including freeze-drying, 3-D printing, electrospinning, and microfluidic system. Elaborately designed artificial skin models which closely mimic the human skin can be highly valuable and effective tools to replace in vivo animal tests for the evaluation of the safety and efficacy in the field of cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries as well as for the basic studies on cell to cell interactions, cell to extracellular matrix interactions, tissue formation and development. This review recapitulates diverse fabrication techniques for artificial skin models and their main applications.