Tissue engineering of skin: human tonsil-derived mesenchymal cells can function as dermal fibroblasts

Purpose It is unclear whether dermal fibroblasts are indispensable key players for tissue engineering of dermo-epidermal skin analogs. In this experimental study, we wanted to test the hypothesis that tonsil-derived mesenchymal cells can assume the role of dermal fibroblasts when culturing pigmented skin analogs for transplantation.