Sarah Gordon
Department of Drug Delivery, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) and Department of Pharmacy, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Mardas Daneshian
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing-Europe, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Joke Bouwstra
Division of Drug Delivery Technology, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Francesca Caloni
Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA), Milan, Italy
Samuel Constant
Epithelix Sàrl, Geneva, Switzerland
Donna E. Davies
Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK; NIHR Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK
Gudrun Dandekar
Translational Center Regenerative Therapies for Oncology and Musculoskeletal Diseases, Würzburg Branch of the Fraunhofer Institute Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) and Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Carlos A. Guzman
Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology, Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI), Braunschweig, Germany
Eric Fabian
BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Eleonore Haltner
Across Barriers GmbH, Saarbrücken, Germany
Thomas Hartung
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing-Europe, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
Nina Hasiwa
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing-Europe, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Patrick Hayden
MatTek Corporation, Ashland, MA, USA
Helena Kandarova
MatTek In Vitro Life Science Laboratories, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Sangeeta Khare
Division of Microbiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR, USA
Harald F. Krug
Empa - Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Science & Technology, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Carsten Kneuer
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Pesticide Safety, Berlin, Germany
Marcel Leist
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing-Europe, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Guoping Lian
Unilever Research Colworth, Sharnbrook, UK; Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Uwe Marx
Technical University Berlin, Germany;TissUse Incorporated, Spreenhagen, Berlin, Germany
Marco Metzger
Translational Center Regenerative Therapies for Oncology and Musculoskeletal Diseases, Würzburg Branch of the Fraunhofer Institute Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) and Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Katharina Ott
BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Pilar Prieto
EURL ECVAM, Systems Toxicology Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
Michael S. Roberts
Therapeutics Research Centre, School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland; University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Erwin Roggen
3Rs Management and Consulting ApS, Lyngby, Denmark
Tewes Tralau
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Chemicals and Product Safety, Berlin, Germany
Claudia van den Braak
Danone corporation, Nutricia Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Heike Walles
Translational Center Regenerative Therapies for Oncology and Musculoskeletal Diseases, Würzburg Branch of the Fraunhofer Institute Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) and Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Claus-Michael Lehr
Department of Drug Delivery, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) and Department of Pharmacy, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Abstract
Models of the outer epithelia of the human body – namely the skin, the intestine and the lung – have found valid applications in both research and industrial settings as attractive alternatives to animal testing. A variety of approaches to model these barriers are currently employed in such fields, ranging from the utilization of ex vivo tissue to reconstructed in vitro models, and further to chip-based technologies, synthetic membrane systems and, of increasing current interest, in silico modeling approaches. An international group of experts in the field of epithelial barriers was convened from academia, industry and regulatory bodies to present both the current state of the art of non-animal models of the skin, intestinal and pulmonary barriers in their various fields of application, and to discuss research-based, industry-driven and regulatory-relevant future directions for both the development of new models and the refinement of existing test methods. Issues of model relevance and preference, validation and standardization, acceptance, and the need for simplicity versus complexity were focal themes of the discussions. The outcomes of workshop presentations and discussions, in relation to both current status and future directions in the utilization and development of epithelial barrier models, are presented by the attending experts in the current report.
