Although current tissue engineered autologous dermo-epidermal substitutes show a multilayered epidermal structure with an excellent mechanical protective function, no structured approach to melanocytic integration has been aimed for to date. This leads not only to insufficient biological protective function against radiation but also to randomly hypo- or hyperpigmented transplanted areas on the patient. Our aim is to systematically add melanocytes to autologous substitutes to achieve an additional protective function as well as an aesthetic improvement of autologous dermo-epideramal skin substitutes.
