Living Skin On A Robot
Living Skin On A Robot
Article
Living skin on a robot
Michio Kawai, Minghao Nie,
Haruka Oda, Yuya Morimoto,
Shoji Takeuchi
Highlights
The method for generating
seamless coverage of 3D objects
with skin equivalent
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Living skin on a robot
Michio Kawai,1 Minghao Nie,1 Haruka Oda,1 Yuya Morimoto,1 and Shoji Takeuchi1,2,3,4,*
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Figure 1. Conceptual illustration and fabrication process of the ‘‘living skin on a robot’’ proposed in this paper; see also Figures S1 and S10
(A) Conceptual illustration of a biohybrid robotic hand with its finger covered with human skin equivalent.
(B) Design of the three-joint robotic finger to be covered with skin equivalent.
(C) Fabrication process of the skin equivalent used to cover the robotic finger. Scale bar, 10 mm.
due to the inability to control the 3D shape of the dermis equivalent, which shrinks
and changes its shape drastically during culture, and the difficulty in uniformly seed-
ing keratinocytes onto dermis equivalent with 3D surfaces.
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RESULTS
Fabrication of the skin equivalent on the robotic finger
As shown in Figures 1B and 1C, the strategy for constructing the skin equivalent
covering the robotic finger contained two major steps: (1) the construction of a
dermis equivalent that covers the robotic finger and (2) the construction of the
epidermis on the surface of the dermis equivalent. First, to form the dermis equiva-
lent, collagen solution containing normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) was
poured into a cylindrical polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) case and cultured to shrink
into a matured dermis equivalent. The anchoring structure at the stem of the finger
can hook and hold the skin equivalent at its edges to not only prevent the dermis
equivalent coverage on the surface of the fingertip device from retreating but also
to utilize the tension generated by shrinkage to cover the robotic finger tightly. Sec-
ond, the epidermal layer is constructed by seeding normal human epidermal kerati-
nocytes (NHEKs). Since the in vivo epidermis consists mainly of keratinocytes that
form tight cell-cell junctions, the epidermal layer is commonly formed by seeding
keratinocyte suspensions onto the surface of a planar-shaped dermis equivalent,
allowing the suspensions to settle and adhere to the dermis equivalent to achieve
a highly cellularized epidermis.21 To increase the chance of cell adhesion during
each seed-settle-adhere sequence, it was also necessary to prevent NHEKs from
completely slipping off the dermis surface using a PDMS case. Additionally, to
form an epidermal layer on a dermis equivalent covering a 3D object, it was neces-
sary to perform the seed-settle-adhere sequence multiple times, from multiple di-
rections, to cover the entire surface of the tissue. The skin equivalent can withstand
the deformation generated by the joint motions of the robotic finger. Detailed fabri-
cation procedures can be found in the Experimental procedures.
Experiments to evaluate the validity of this fabrication strategy were conducted us-
ing a simple object resembling a fingertip (referred to as a ‘‘fingertip device’’) (Fig-
ure 2A). As shown in Figure S2A, the fingertip device consists of a mold part and an
anchor part. The mold part defines the shape of the fingertip with a cylinder and a
spherical dome on its top, which is connected to a circular base plate. The relatively
simple shape of the mold part is useful for quantitatively evaluating the uniformity of
the constructed skin. The anchor part consists of an array of mushroom-shaped an-
chors circumferentially distributed around a donut-shaped baseplate. The skin
equivalent covering fingertip device can be fabricated using the same method as
that used for the robotic finger (Figure S2B). To evaluate the effectiveness of the an-
chors, we performed preliminary investigations of the shrinkage of the collagen gel
with various concentrations of NHDFs formed in Petri dishes. As a result, 45%–78%
shrinkage was found in the samples with NHDFs after a week of culture, while almost
no shrinkage was found in the samples without NHDFs (Figure S3). Moreover,
fingertip devices with and without anchors were then covered with the dermis equiv-
alent. After 7 days of culture, the coverage of dermis equivalent formed on the
fingertip devices without the anchors retreated, leaving a larger bare surface than
that left by those with anchors, indicating that it is necessary to hold the dermis
equivalent using anchors for gapless coverage of the device (Figures 2B and 2C).
Interestingly, complete retreat of the dermis equivalent coverage (the dermis equiv-
alent came off the mold part) was not found for the samples without anchors; this
outcome could have occurred due to the friction between the surfaces of the dermis
equivalent and the fingertip device.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the cap part on the uniform shaping of the dermis
equivalent, we compared the dermis equivalent fabricated with and without the
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Figure 2. Evaluation of the method to construct skin equivalent to cover 3D objects; see also Figures S2, S3, and S8
(A) Images of the fingertip device before and after being covered with skin equivalent.
(B and C) Evaluation of the effect of the anchor structure on the device. The graph shows the length of retreated tissue coverage for the samples
fabricated in the devices with and without anchor structures (n = 3). The results are shown as the mean G SD. *p < 0.05, unpaired Student’s t test.
(D and E) Comparison of the outline of the dermis equivalent fabricated in devices with and without the cap part (n = 3). Tissue thickness was
measured using images of frozen sections at three different points. The thicknesses of A and B were averaged for both sides. The results are shown as
the mean G SD.
(F and G) Conditions and results of the experiment on the effect of various culture periods after NHEK seeding (n = 3) are shown. The graphs show the
covering rate of the epidermis for each condition. The results are shown as the mean G SD. *p < 0.05, unpaired Student’s t test.
(H and I) Conditions and results of the experiment comparing the effect of different numbers of epidermal seeding directions (n = 3). The graph shows
the change in covering rate with the number of seeding directions. The results are shown as the mean G SD. *p < 0.05, unpaired Student’s t test. Scale
bars, (A) 10 mm (top), 5 mm (bottom); (B, C) 5 mm.
cap part (Figures 2D and 2E). The dermis equivalent fabricated without the cap part
was formed with nonuniform thickness, which is especially evident by comparing the
rounded/sharpened top corners of the tissues formed with/without the cap part.
These results confirm that it is necessary to adjust the initial thickness of the collagen
gel using the cap part so that the skin equivalent can be formed uniformly on the ro-
botic finger.
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shows the relationship between the length of postseeding cultivation periods and
the epidermal covering rate. The covering rate of the samples, in which NHEKs
were seeded from one direction onto the dermis equivalent and cultured for
3 days, was approximately 30%. The samples in which NHEKs were seeded from
one direction onto the dermis equivalent and cultured for 14 days showed a
coverage rate of approximately 40%. The higher covering rate of the sample
cultured for 14 days after seeding indicated that the NHEKs migrated and prolifer-
ated on the dermis equivalent within culture. On the other hand, it is inefficient to
build epidermis by seeding NHEKs from one direction because of the slow migration
of the epidermis. The covering rate of the samples, in which NHEKs were seeded
from two directions onto the dermis equivalent and cultured for 14 days, was
approximately 80%. Therefore, epidermal seeding from two directions was used
to fabricate the skin equivalent covering the robotic finger or fingertip device.
Figures 2H and 2I shows the relationship between the number of seeding directions
of NHEKs and the epidermal covering rate. Both samples were seeded with the same
total amount of NHEKs from one/two directions and cultured for 14 days. As a result,
samples in which NHEKs were seeded from two directions showed a coverage rate of
more than 80% on average. These results indicated that seeding NHEKs from two
directions was more effective than seeding NHEKs from one direction. Based on
these results, in our following experiments, the epidermal layers were constructed
by performing the NHEK seed-settle-adhere sequence from two directions and
culturing for 14 days.
In the human body, the epidermis acts as a barrier that protects the body by keeping
exogenous substances from entering and preventing excessive water loss.22 Here,
we evaluated the barrier function of our in vitro fabricated skin equivalents with elec-
trical measurements and water retention tests. In electrical measurements, it is
known that the capacitance of the epidermis is much lower than that of the dermis;
thus, capacitance measurement is one of the methods used to assess the barrier
function of skin.23 To compare the difference in the electrical properties of the
dermis equivalent and those of the skin equivalent, we fabricated dermis equivalent
samples with only half of the surface covered with epidermis and measured the
capacitance and resistance of each half using a modified fingertip device with
embedded electrodes (Figures S4A–S4C). Figure 3D shows the comparison of
capacitance and resistance between the tissues with and without epidermis
coverage. The results show that the capacitances of the tissues with epidermis
were significantly lower than those of tissues without epidermis, and the resistances
of the tissues with epidermis were higher than those of tissues without epidermis.
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Figure 3. Histological and functional evaluation of the fabricated skin equivalent; see also Figure S4
(A) H&E staining of frozen sections of the tissue. The cell nuclei were stained violet, and the ECM and cytoplasm were stained pink.
(B) Immunostaining of the frozen tissue sections with CK15 antibody.
(C) Immunostaining of frozen tissue sections with CK10 antibody.
(D) Barrier function assessment by capacitance and resistance measurements (n = 3). The results are shown as the mean G SD. *p < 0.05, unpaired
Student’s t test.
(E) The result of the water retention test (n = 3). The results are shown as the mean G SD at each time point. *p < 0.05, unpaired Student’s t test. Scale
bars, (A, B, C) 2 mm, (insets) 200 mm.
These changes in electrical properties of tissues with and without the epidermal layer
were consistent with the results of previous studies,11,24 indicating the successful for-
mation of the functional epidermis.
For the water retention test, the mold part of the fingertip device was withdrawn
from the anchor part, leaving a pocket-shaped skin equivalent with an inner cavity.
After adding 4% paraformaldehyde solution in phosphate-buffered saline without
Mg2+ Ca2+ (PBS( )) to the inner cavity, leaked liquids were continuously collected
and weighed using an analytical balance for 1 h (Figures S4D and S4E). Figure 3E
shows the comparison of the amount of leaked PBS( ) from the inner cavity of the
skin equivalent and the dermis equivalent. The leakage from the dermis equivalent
sample was approximately 5.4 mg after 1 h, while the leakage from the skin equiva-
lent sample was approximately 0.13 mg after 1 h. The results show that our 3D-
shaped skin equivalents can serve as a permeability barrier to prevent water
leakages.
To assess the mechanical properties of the cultured skin material, we measured the
tensile strength of the dermis equivalent. Since the thickness of the dermis equiva-
lent is significantly thicker than that of the epidermis in skin equivalents and the
dermis equivalent is the main part responsible for the mechanical strength of the
skin equivalent, tensile tests were conducted using only dermis equivalent for con-
venience. As a result, the tensile strength of the dermis equivalent was 2.6, 4.9,
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Figure 4. Histological and functional evaluation of the fabricated skin equivalent; see also Videos S1, S2, S3, and S4
(A) The joint motion of the robotic finger covered with human skin equivalent. The photo on the left is the bent finger, and the photo on the right is the
straight finger.
(B) Photo of the robotic finger with and without the application of skin equivalent.
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Figure 4. Continued
(C) The upper graph shows the sectional width distribution of the robotic finger without skin equivalent and the robotic finger covered with skin
equivalent; the lower graph shows the thickness of the skin equivalent.
(D) Epidermal layer peeled off from the skin equivalent covering the robotic finger.
(E) Confirmation of the water repellency of fabricated skin equivalent.
(F) Manipulation of microbeads by the robotic finger covered with skin equivalent and dermis equivalent. Scale bars, (A, B, F) 10 mm; (D, E) 2 mm.
and 4.4 kPa for the samples cultured for 3, 7, and 14 days, respectively. The dermis
equivalent cultured for 14 days became significantly stronger than that cultured for
3 days (p = 0.10) (Figure S5A). Based on this result, the skin equivalent covering the
robotic finger was cultured for more than 14 days. It is also known that biomaterials
such as human skin have a strain-hardening feature, which serves as a mechanism to
protect themselves from excessive tension.25 Figure S5B shows the stress-strain
behavior of the skin equivalent cultured for 14 days. The J-shaped tensile curves
of the dermis equivalent cultured for 14 days exhibit a significant difference between
the tangent modulus of region 1 and region 3, indicating the strain-hardening
behavior of the skin equivalent (Figure S5C).
The skin equivalent covering the robotic finger had an epidermis with enough thickness
that can be peeled off and picked up with tweezers (Figure 4D and Video S2). Since it is
also known that skin equivalent with sufficient epidermis is water repellent and can form
water droplets on its surface,11 we tested our skin equivalent covering the robotic finger;
the outcome revealed sufficient water repellency to form water droplets on the surface
(Figure 4E). In addition, the water droplets could be wiped off from the skin equivalent, as
shown in Video S3. These properties confirmed the successful formation of the
epidermal layer as the outermost covering layer of the robotic finger.
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Figure 5. Repair of the dermis equivalent covering the robotic finger; see also Figures S6 and S7 and Video S5
(A) Images of the repair process. The wound punched on the dermis equivalent was repaired by grafting the collagen sheet onto it.
(B) The joint motion of the robotic finger after repair is shown.
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Figure 5. Continued
(C) Close-up image of the wounded area on the bent robotic finger.
(D) Photo of samples before and after grafting used for the cell migration test.
(E) Cell migration into the grafted collagen sheet after repair. The tissues were stained 3 and 7 days after repair.
(F) Various conditions were evaluated to test the strength recovery of the repaired tissue.
(G) The results of the strength recovery assessment of the repaired tissue (n = 3) are shown. The results are shown as the mean G SD. *p < 0.05, Tukey-
Kramer test, Scale bars, (A) 20 mm; (B) 10 mm; (C) 10 mm, 5 mm (inset); (D) 5 mm; (E) 1 mm, 100 mm (inset).
Figure 5A shows the procedure that was used to repair the dermis equivalent
covering the robotic finger. The wound was made on the dorsal surface of the ro-
botic finger using a surgical knife (Figure 5A, i). The collagen sheet attached to
the dermis equivalent was able to seal the wound (Figure 5A, ii). After 7 days of cul-
ture, the boundary between the grafted acellular collagen sheet and the dermis
equivalent became unclear (Figure 5A, iii). The adhesion of the collagen sheet to
the dermis equivalent was strong enough to withstand the tensile strain produced
by repeated bending motions of the robotic finger (Figures 5B and 5C and Video S5).
To further confirm the repair treatment results, tensile tests were performed to check
the strength recovery of the repaired dermis equivalent. Figures S7A–S7C show the
setup that was used to measure the adhesion force between the grafted collagen
sheet and the dermis equivalent. The testing setup required two devices: a device
consisting of a frame with anchors (a.k.a. ‘‘dermis sheet holder’’) and a device for
hooking the collagen sheets (a.k.a. ‘‘collagen sheet jig’’). The collagen sheet, fabri-
cated to be attached to the collagen sheet jig, was grafted onto the dermis equivalent
fabricated in the dermis sheet holder. Following a designated incubation period after
grafting, the tensile test was performed in which the collagen sheet jig was pulled up
with the dermis sheet holder fixed (Figure S7D and Video S6). The collagen sheet jig
was attached to a rheometer probe connected to motors and force sensors, which
can generate the pulling motion and measure the tensile force simultaneously.
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Figure 5F illustrates the conditions for the three types of tissue samples that were
compared: acellular collagen without NHDFs (Sample A), dermis equivalent cultured
for 1 day (Sample B), and dermis equivalent cultured for 7 days after grafting of the
collagen sheet (Sample C). Graphs of the adhesion strength and the relationship of
tensile forces versus stretch width are shown in Figures 5G and S7E, respectively.
As a result, the presence of NHDFs in the dermis equivalent and the longer culture
time show higher adhesion strength. These results indicate that the repair process
is promoted by the activity of NHDFs.
DISCUSSION
The present work demonstrated the construction of a robotic finger covered with a
living material, i.e., skin equivalent. The anchoring structure located at the stem of
the finger allowed us to conformally cover the uneven surface of the robotic finger
by controlling tissue shrinkage. In addition, epidermal structures could be uniformly
formed by seeding cells from multiple directions. Furthermore, the wound was re-
paired by dermal fibroblast activity after the collagen sheet was applied to the
wound site. These results show the applicability of robots covered with living mate-
rials with biological functions and provide a new perspective on robotic materials.
The advantage of our method for covering 3D objects with skin equivalent is the uti-
lization of tissue shrinkage during culture, which enables conformal coverage of 3D
objects, especially those with curved and uneven surfaces. Alternatively, other
methods can also be considered to cover 3D objects such as tailoring the skin equiv-
alents fabricated in planar shapes; whole sheets of skin equivalents fabricated using
traditional methods can be measured, cut, and sutured/glued to enclose 3D objects.
However, this tailoring method has difficulty reproducing the subtle unevenness on
the surface of the object. It is difficult to cut, glue, or suture the endpoints of skin
equivalent without damaging the soft, fragile tissue. Furthermore, this approach re-
quires a substantial amount of time and labor to accomplish the task. Using our
method, the fabricated skin equivalent covering the robotic finger successfully repro-
duced the surface shape of the robotic finger with a thickness of 2.34 G 0.28 mm
(mean G SD). For these reasons, the method in this study is both theoretically and
practically suitable to use to cover 3D objects with skin equivalent. To further improve
fabrication efficiency, bioprinting methods, which have been used to fabricate skin
equivalents,28,29 could be modified to print dermis equivalents in a 3D shape and
to deposit keratinocytes onto the curved surfaces of dermis equivalents.
The shrinkage of the skin equivalent stemmed from the remodeling of the collagen
matrix by NHDFs. In theory, if NHDFs are uniformly distributed and have the same
level of activity, the localized shrinkage ratio should be the same across the whole
inner volume of the tissue. In practice, if this uniform localized shrinkage is countered
by the anchors set at the edges of a planar-shaped skin equivalent sample, the skin
equivalent will be stretched and become a thin sheet with uniform thickness (except
near the edges).11,12 However, judging from our results, the formation of stretched
tissues with a uniform thickness also requires tissues to have a uniform initial thick-
ness before shrinkage, which is achieved by the usage of the cap part to refine the
shape of the initially cross-linked collagen gel.
There is still room to improve the mechanical strength of the skin equivalent. The tensile
strength of our dermis equivalent was approximately 5.6 kPa (Figure S5), which was far
less than the tensile strength of in vivo skin tissue (10–30 MPa).30 We speculate that this
lack of tensile strength was mainly due to the low initial collagen concentration and the
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insufficient remodeling of the collagen matrix by the cells. The collagen density of in vivo
forearm skin was approximately 100–200 mg/mL.31 On the other hand, the initial
collagen density of the NHDF mixture solution used for the fabrication of dermis equiv-
alent was 3 mg/mL. Even considering the shrinkage of the skin equivalent (Figure S3),
the terminal density was approximately 10 mg/mL. It is expected that a higher collagen
concentration in the matured (and therefore stronger) tissue can be achieved with a
higher initial collagen concentration. For example, meniscal tissue with enhanced me-
chanical strength and biochemical properties was fabricated with a high initial collagen
concentration (10–20 mg/mL).32 The insufficient remodeling of the collagen matrix by
the cells could also affect the mechanical strength of skin equivalent. It has been re-
ported that in vivo collagenous tissue consists of collagen fibrils composed of a stag-
gered array of ultralong tropocollagen molecules that can maximize strength and pro-
vide large energy dissipation during deformation, thus creating tough and robust
tissue.33 Such nanostructures of in vivo collagen fibrils are believed to be mainly
produced by the cells, as indicated by the experimental results showing increased me-
chanical strength after in vivo implantation34 or demonstrating longer periods of in vitro
tissue maturation.35 Therefore, fine-tuning of fibroblast concentration and pheno-
types,36 as well as longer periods of maturation culture, could be adopted in our future
experiments to further enhance the mechanical properties of the skin equivalents for ro-
botic applications.
Durability is also important when considering the use of skin equivalent as a robotic
covering material. A previous study reported that cultured skin equivalents did not
exhibit damages after repeated stretch (10% deformation, 0.2 Hz) for 4 days.12
Other challenges remain in the longevity and functionalization of the skin. First, the
skin equivalent assessed in this study cannot survive in the air for a long period of
time. In our experiment, the robots were maintained in culture medium before being
taken out to perform tasks in an indoor room environment without intentionally
elevated or decreased humidity. In its current form, the robot should not be used
in a dry environment, since even the human skin cannot be exposed to a dry environ-
ment for a long period of time without proper water supply from the circulatory sys-
tems and localized wetting by the secretion of sweating glands. To avoid such drying
out, building perfusion channels within and beneath the dermis equivalent to mimic
blood vessels to supply water, as well as the integration of sweating glands in the
skin equivalent, are important directions for future research. Second, cultured skin
has the potential to be a multifunctional robot covering material because it can serve
as a matrix for various biological functions, such as sensing37 and temperature con-
trol,38 that such materials require. A future challenge is to reproduce the compo-
nents of the skin, including nerves and appendages (i.e., sweat glands, nails, etc.),
so that robots can acquire these skin-specific functions.
In this work, the robot finger was designed to be driven by pulling wires to avoid dete-
rioration of electronic actuators and wirings caused by the wet culture conditions. To
further improve the functionality and physical autonomy of the robots, the establish-
ment of a robotic architecture with coexisting perfusable artificial blood vessel network
and biocompatible waterproof electronics is an important future focus to not only main-
tain the viability of the living skin but also allow the integration of electrical processors,
motors, sensors, wires, batteries, communication modules, etc. Alternatively, with the
advancements on the biofabrication of functional muscle tissues39 and nerves,40 supe-
rior actuation and sensing features of the living organisms, such as quite actuation and
highly selective chemical detection, could be recruited to further improve the biohybrid
robots by the integration of more tissue-engineered elements.
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Taken together, this research is a major step toward biohybrid robots that have a
combination of living materials and artificial materials. Biohybrid robots would
exhibit superior sensory capabilities, highly efficient energy conversion, self-organi-
zation, and self-repair functions like living organisms, which have thus far been diffi-
cult to achieve for artificial materials alone. In this study, by covering a robotic finger
with skin equivalent, we demonstrated the possibility of not only reconstructing the
visual texture of skin but also replicating the unique capabilities of living organisms
using biomaterials that are able to perform in the air and exhibit self-repair. We
believe that these results will create a new paradigm for biohybrid robots.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Resource availability
Lead contact
Further information and requests for resources and reagents should be directed to
and will be fulfilled by the lead contact, Shoji Takeuchi ([email protected]
tokyo.ac.jp).
Material availability
This study did not generate new unique reagents.
Cell culture
NHDFs (PromoCell, Heidelberg) were cultured in fibroblast growth medium (Dul-
becco’s modified Eagle’s medium [Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO] supplemented
with 10% fetal bovine serum [Biosera, Kansas City, MO], 1% penicillin-streptomycin
[Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA], and 70 mg/mL L-ascorbic acid phosphate
magnesium salt n-hydrate [Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Osaka]). NHEKs
(PromoCell, Heidelberg) were cultured in keratinocyte growth medium (Keratino-
cyte Growth Medium 2 Kit [PromoCell, Heidelberg] supplemented with 1% peni-
cillin-streptomycin). For both NHDFs and NHEKs, media were replenished once
every 2 days, and the cells were subcultured at approximately 80% confluence.
NHDFs were used within 10 passages, and NHEKs were used within eight pas-
sages. Fibroblast growth medium was also used for the maturation of dermis
equivalent. Keratinocyte differentiation medium (1:1 mixture of fibroblast growth
medium and keratinocyte growth medium) was used when culturing NHEKs on
dermis equivalent samples.
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growth medium containing 1.0 3 106 or 4.0 3 106 cells/mL NHDFs). Collagen solu-
tion crosslinking was achieved by placing the solution in an incubator (37 C, 5% CO2)
for more than 1 h. For the fabrication of skin equivalent covering the fingertip device
or the robotic finger, the NHDF concentration in the medium was 1.0 3 106 cells/mL.
For the experiments related to the repair of the dermis equivalent, the NHDF con-
centration in the medium was 4.0 3 106 cells/mL. The concentration of NHDFs for
the latter was increased to enhance the repair of the dermis equivalent.
As shown in Figure 1C, the procedures to cover the robotic finger with skin equiva-
lent consisted of two major steps: (1) the construction of a dermis equivalent that
covered the robotic finger and (2) the construction of the epidermis on the surface
of the dermis equivalent. First, to prepare the dermis equivalent, the collagen solu-
tion containing NHDFs, prepared on ice, was poured into the cylindrical PDMS case
through the hole of the cap part at room temperature (RT). Immediately after pour-
ing, the cylindrical PDMS case was placed upright in an incubator (37 C, 5% CO2) to
crosslink the collagen and subsequently culture the tissue for maturation (Figure 1C,
i). During maturation (R3 days), cells adhered to and remodeled the collagen ma-
trix,41 and the tissue shrank (Figure 1C, ii). In this paper, the shrunken tissue (with
R3 days of maturation culture) is referred to as ‘‘dermis equivalent.’’ Due to
shrinkage after 3 days of culture, the dermis equivalent covered the robotic finger
tightly. Second, to cover the dermis equivalent with the epidermis, 200 mL of
epidermal medium containing NHEKs at a concentration of 1.0 3 107 cells/mL
was gently poured onto the dorsal surface of the finger twice and cultured for
1 day (Figure 1C, iii). After that, the robot was rotated 180 in the PDMS case so
that the palmar surface of the finger faced upward, and the same amount of
NHEKs was seeded and cultured for an additional 2 weeks to complete the fabrica-
tion of the skin equivalent (Figure 1C, iv).
The process of tissue formation was the same as the formation of the tissue covering
the robotic finger, with the device replaced by the fingertip device, as illustrated in
Figure S2B. In detail, the collagen solution containing NHDFs was poured into a cy-
lindrical PDMS case containing a fingertip device and a cap part. Immediately after
pouring the collagen solution containing NHDFs, the cylindrical PDMS case was
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placed upright in an incubator. Then, NHEKs were seeded on the surface of the
dermis equivalent from two sides; the details of this procedure are as follows. First,
the fabricated dermis equivalent covering the fingertip device was set in the PDMS
case. Then, 100 mL of keratinocyte differentiation medium containing NHEKs at a
concentration of 1.0 3 107 cells/mL was added to the dermis equivalent. The next
day, the dermis equivalent (seeded with NHEKs from one side) was rotated 180
in the PDMS case and again seeded with the same amount of NHEKs. Dermis equiv-
alent (seeded with NHEKs from both sides) was then cultured in keratinocyte differ-
entiation medium for 2 weeks to allow the migration and differentiation of NHEKs; at
this point, the formation of skin equivalent covering the fingertip mold was
complete.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the anchoring structure and the cap part on the for-
mation of uniformly shaped 3D dermis equivalent, a dermis equivalent was fabri-
cated to cover both the fingertip devices and the negative-control devices (i.e., de-
vices without anchoring structures or cap parts). All the samples were fabricated by
crosslinking collagen containing NHDFs and culturing for 7 days. For the anchoring
structures, the lengths of retreated tissue coverage on the fingertip devices and
negative-control devices (without anchoring structures) were measured using Im-
ageJ (NIH, Bethesda, MD). For the cap part, the thickness of the fabricated dermis
equivalent was measured at the side, corner, and top points (A, B, and C, respec-
tively, as shown in Figure 2E). Since side and corner points are not on the symmet-
rical axis, thickness values of the dermis equivalent on the left and right sides were
averaged. Thickness measurements were performed in ImageJ based on H&E stain-
ing images of the frozen sections of the tissues.
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In the experiments examining the seeding method of NHEKs, NHEKs were seeded
and cultured in three different conditions: 2.0 3 106 NHEKs seeded on one side and
cultured for 3 days (A), 2.0 3 106 NHEKs seeded on one side and cultured for 14 days
(B), and 1.0 3 106 NHEKs seeded on two sides and cultured for 14 days (C). In all
samples, NHEKs were seeded on dermis equivalent and cultured for 3 days after
collagen crosslinking. Representative H&E staining images of the frozen sections
are shown in Figure S9. For the calculation of the epidermal covering rate, images
of three frozen sections acquired at the tip, middle, and bottom of each finger sam-
ple were analyzed with averaged results to better represent the covering rate of the
whole finger. The coverage rate of each frozen section was determined by analyzing
the H&E-stained samples with ImageJ and measuring the percentage of epidermis
present in the outer edge of the sample.
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once every 0.25 s (Figure S8D). The stress was calculated by dividing the force by the
undeformed cross-sectional area of the skin tissue.
The repair treatment of the wounded dermis equivalent covering the robotic
finger
The robotic finger covered with dermis equivalent was fabricated by the process
adopted from the previous section. The pink color of the dermis equivalent was in-
herited from the fibroblast growth medium, which contains phenol red. The skin
equivalent was less pink since the keratinocyte differentiation medium contained
less phenol red. After fabrication of the dermis equivalent covering the robotic
finger, the tissue was wounded by cutting it with a scalpel. Then, an acellular
collagen hydrogel sheet was dipped in collagen solution and grafted onto the tissue
to cover the wounded area. The collagen sheets were found to adhere to the tissue
with the crosslinking of the dipped collagen solution and was shown to fuse with the
wounded tissue after 7 days of incubation.
To investigate cell migration from the dermis equivalent into the acellular collagen
sheet, NHDFs were stained with Alexa Fluor 488 phalloidin (phalloidin) (Thermo
Fisher Scientific, Tokyo) and Hoechst 33342 (Invitrogen, CA, Carlsbad). In detail,
two planar-shaped dermis equivalents (referred to as ‘‘dermis sheets’’) were fabri-
cated, as shown in Figure S6A, after 3 days of incubation after collagen crosslinking.
In addition, a hole (diameter: 6 mm) was punched into each tissue sample using a
biopsy punch (Figure S6B). Then, a collagen sheet was grafted onto each dermis
sheet to cover the holes. The samples were cultured for 3 or 7 days, fixed with 4%
PFA for 1 day at 4 C, and treated with 0.1% Triton X-100 (Thermo Fisher Scientific,
Tokyo) for 0.5 h at RT. Then, cell nuclei and cytoskeleton were stained with phalloidin
and Hoechst 33342. The stained tissues were imaged under an inverted microscope
(IX71, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan).
To show the restoration of the adhesion strength of the repaired tissues, tensile tests
were performed as follows. The dermis sheets were cultured using the devices illus-
trated in Figure S7A. After 3 days of gelation, the wound holes (diameter: 6 mm)
were punched at the center of the samples using a biopsy punch. Then, acellular
collagen sheets attached to the collagen sheet jigs (prepared according to the illus-
trated steps in Figure S7B) were grafted onto the dermis equivalent samples to cover
the wound holes. Before grafting, the collagen sheets were dipped in collagen solu-
tion to promote adherence to the dermis equivalent. To investigate the effect of the
activity of NHDFs on the changes in adhesion strength, three different types of sam-
ples were prepared. The first was the control sample consisting of collagen without
NHDFs (Sample A), which was fabricated by mixing the collagen solution and the
fibroblast growth medium containing no NHDFs. Sample A was grafted with acel-
lular collagen sheets (as described above) and cultured in fibroblast growth medium
for another 7 days. The second type of sample was the one with a short culture
period (Sample B), which was grafted with the acellular collagen sheet and then
cultured in fibroblast growth medium for 1 more day, for a total of 8 days. The third
type of sample was the one with a long culture period (Sample C), which was incu-
bated 7 days after the grafting of the acellular collagen sheet. After the designated
culture periods, the collagen sheet jig was fitted to the shaft for disposable
measuring systems (D-CP/PP7) of a rheometer, and the dermis sheet holder was
fixed to a 3D-printed base. A tensile test was performed to measure the adhesion
strength between the grafted collagen sheet and the dermis equivalent by pulling
the probe upward at a speed of 500 mm/s, and the tensile force was recorded
once every 0.25 s (Figure S7D).
ll
Article
Statistical analysis
We evaluated statistically significant differences by independent Student’s t tests or
Tukey-Kramer tests. All statistical analyses were performed using the statistical soft-
ware R (http://www.R-project.org). All data are represented as the average G SD.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Supplemental information can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.
2022.05.019.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Byeongwook Jo and Dina Myasnikova for the helpful discussions and
support.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Conceptualization: M.K., M.N., Y.M., and S.T.; methodology: M.K., M.N., and H.O.;
investigation: M.K.; visualization: M.K., M.N., and H.O.; funding acquisition: M.N.,
H.O., Y.M., and S.T.; project administration: Y.M. and S.T.; supervision: Y.M. and
S.T.; writing – original draft: M.K. and N.M.; writing – review & editing: M.K.,
N.M., H.O., Y.M., and S.T.
DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
The authors declare no competing interests.
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