Light Microscopic, Electron Microscopic, and Immunohistochemical Comparison of Bama Minipig (Sus scrofa domestica) and Human Skin

• Published in: Comparative medicine Vol. 60; no. 2; pp. 142 - 148
• Main Authors: Liu, Yu, Chen, Jun-Ying, Shang, Hai-Tao, Liu, Chang-e, Wang, Yong, Niu, Rong, Wu, Jun, Wei, Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 01.04.2010
• Subjects: animal models; Animals; antigenic variation; Bama (swine breeds); biochemical compounds; cell physiology; Collagen Type I - chemistry; Collagen Type I - genetics; Collagen Type I - metabolism; electron microscopy; Extracellular Matrix - chemistry; Extracellular Matrix - metabolism; Female; Filaggrin Proteins; Humans; immune system; immunohistochemistry; Immunohistochemistry - methods; immunology; integumentary system physiology; light microscopes; Male; Microscopy - methods; Microscopy, Electron - methods; microstructure; miniature swine; Models, Animal; skin; Skin - chemistry; Skin - ultrastructure; species differences; Sus scrofa; Swine; Swine Models; Swine, Miniature - anatomy & histology; Swine, Miniature - metabolism; ultrastructure; validity; Wound Healing
• ISSN: 1532-0820; 2769-819X

Here we sought to evaluate the possibility of using Chinese Bama miniature pig skin as a suitable animal model for human skin. Morphologic features of the skin of Bama miniature pigs resemble those of human skin, including skin layer thickness, development of a superficial vascular system, structure of the dermal-epidermal interface, and extracellular matrix. The characteristics and densities of Langerhans cells, fibroblasts, vascular endothelial cells, and mast cells were similar between Bama pig and human skin. Immunohistochemistry showed that miniature pigs and humans have the same antigenic determinants of human laminin, fibronectin, filaggrin, collagen I, collagen III, collagen IV, and keratin but not CD34, ICAM1, or S100. In addition, collagen type I from Bama miniature pig skin exhibited physicochemical characteristics resembling those of human skin, in regard to HPLC chromatography, UV spectroscopy, amino-acid composition, and SDS-PAGE analysis. Given these results, we concluded that Bama miniature pigs have great potential as a human skin model and for developing dermal substitute materials in wound repair. However, we also observed some disparities between the skin of Bama miniature pigs and humans, including pigment cell distribution, sweat gland types, and others. Therefore, further studies are needed to completely evaluate the effects of these interspecies differences on the actual application of the model.