Executive Summary : | During summer many countries witness record-high temperatures, the usage of sunscreen becomes essential. Cosmetics including sunscreens and several other products contain nano compounds in their formulations. The nano compounds in sunscreens filter UV rays and stabilizes the product. But sometimes these nano compounds invade the skin barrier and enter into the systemic circulation and can cause serious complications. Generally, testing of these cosmetic products are carried out on animal models. Where in countries like India and Austria the animal test are been forced to be limited or banned in vitro skin models came into focus. After several trials, the conventionally prepared tissue constructs failed to function as an exact copy of the native skin with limitations such as poor cell spatial distribution and tedious manufacturing, etc. In this scenario, 3D bioprinting was expected to be a game-changer. Bioprinting offers an approach to construct a skin equivalent with uniform cell distribution all over the construct by using a layer-by-layer fabrication technique that would be able to mimic the native extracellular matrix of the skin and perform like the natural skin. The proposed study aims to fabricate a 3D bioprinted skin equivalent that can be used as an alternative to human skin without charging for an animal model for cosmetic testing. The study includes the bioink comprising of natural biomaterials incorporating human dermal and epidermal cells, the printing of a bilayered skin construct, characterizing them in the point of stability and biocompatibility, and lastly, some prepared nanomaterials will be applied to the printed construct and their permeability and toxicity effect will be investigated. The accomplishment of the study will result in a skin model that will serve as a platform for evaluating the safety of nanoparticles that are commonly used in the preparation of cosmetics. |