Measuring Proliferation of Keratinocyte Skin Cells
Session Number
MEDH 04
Advisor(s)
Dr. Bethany Perez White, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Discipline
Medical and Health Sciences
Start Date
17-4-2024 10:45 AM
End Date
17-4-2024 11:00 AM
Abstract
Skin is a vital organ that protects us from harmful substances including chemicals and bacteria. The epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, is in equilibrium between proliferation and differentiation to maintain tissue regeneration and barrier function, respectively. This equilibrium is largely dictated by calcium levels. Our study aims to understand the proliferation of keratinocyte skin cells in response to different calcium levels using the DNA assay. First, we isolated primary epidermal keratinocytes from skin tissue and propagated them for experiments. We conducted three independent replicate experiments of the DNA assay and ran an analysis using the Victor X5 instrument to find differences between cells exposed to high calcium versus those exposed to low calcium. The results showed that cells exposed to low calcium proliferated significantly more than those with high calcium content. Specifically, increased keratinocyte proliferation at day 6 in low calcium was shown to be statistically significant (p-value = 0.025). This confirms that proliferation conditions are ideal when there is low calcium. Our next steps are to run additional DNA assay replicates to further strengthen our results. We will also perform a DNA assay using a range of calcium concentrations to better understand calcium effects on keratinocyte proliferation.
Measuring Proliferation of Keratinocyte Skin Cells
Skin is a vital organ that protects us from harmful substances including chemicals and bacteria. The epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, is in equilibrium between proliferation and differentiation to maintain tissue regeneration and barrier function, respectively. This equilibrium is largely dictated by calcium levels. Our study aims to understand the proliferation of keratinocyte skin cells in response to different calcium levels using the DNA assay. First, we isolated primary epidermal keratinocytes from skin tissue and propagated them for experiments. We conducted three independent replicate experiments of the DNA assay and ran an analysis using the Victor X5 instrument to find differences between cells exposed to high calcium versus those exposed to low calcium. The results showed that cells exposed to low calcium proliferated significantly more than those with high calcium content. Specifically, increased keratinocyte proliferation at day 6 in low calcium was shown to be statistically significant (p-value = 0.025). This confirms that proliferation conditions are ideal when there is low calcium. Our next steps are to run additional DNA assay replicates to further strengthen our results. We will also perform a DNA assay using a range of calcium concentrations to better understand calcium effects on keratinocyte proliferation.