• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2024

The cutaneous lymphatic system in humans plays a crucial role in draining interstitial fluid and activating the immune system. Environmental factors, such as ultraviolet light and natural aging, often affect structural changes of such lymphatic vessels, causing skin dysfunction. However, some limitations still exist because of no alternatives to animal testing. To better understand the skin lymphatic system, a biomimetic microfluidic platform, skin-lymph-on-a-chip, was fabricated to develop a novel in vitro skin lymphatic model of humans and to investigate the molecular and physiological changes involved in lymphangiogenesis, the formation of lymphatic vessels. Briefly, the platform involved co-culturing differentiated primary normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs) and dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (HDLECs) in vitro. Based on our system, Lymphanax^TM, which is a condensed Panax ginseng root extract obtained through thermal conversion for 21 days, was applied to evaluate the lymphangiogenic effect, and the changes in molecular factors were analyzed using a deep-learning-based algorithm. Lymphanax^TM promoted healthy lymphangiogenesis in skin-lymphon-a-chip and indirectly affected HDELCs as its components rarely penetrated differentiated NHEKs in the chip. Overall, this study provides a new perspective on Lymphanax^TM and its effects using an innovative in vitro system.