DermaCult Keratinocyte Expansion Medium

STEMCELL Technologies offers a defined, serum- and BPE-free cell culture medium under the DermaCult brand for feeder-free expansion of primary human keratinocytes. DermaCult Keratinocyte Expansion Medium supports long-term culture, enabling over 50 population doublings of human neonatal keratinocytes and over 35 population doublings of human adult keratinocytes while preserving differentiation potential, including the capacity to form a stratified epithelium. Cells expanded in this system exhibit characteristic cobblestone morphology and express key basal cell markers (K14, p63, ITGA6, and ITGB1), making them suitable for differentiation to air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures.

The medium is compatible for passaging with ACCUTASE at 3-5 day intervals and is suitable for use with collagen to establish keratinocyte cultures from skin tissue. Researchers can use keratinocytes cultured in this system for in vitro models of skin and inflammatory diseases, irritation and corrosion assays, and assessments of cosmetics or drug efficacy, with applications spanning cancer research, disease modeling, drug discovery and toxicology testing, and transplantation research.