Transdifferentiation of Umbilical Cord–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Into Epidermal-Like Cells by the Mimicking Skin Microenvironment

Human umbilical cord–derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) are multipotent, primitive, and have been widely used for skin tissue engineering. Their transdifferentiation is determined by the local microenvironment. In this study, we investigated the potential epidermal differentiation of UC-MSCs and the formation of epidermis substitutes in a 3-dimensional (3D) microenvironment, which was fabricated by UC-MSCs embedded into collagen–chitosan...