Have you ever wondered how non-animal-using cosmetic tests are done? I’ve written a lot in my animal testing alternatives page about the fact that alternatives are possible, but I never really detailed exactly how they happen on a day-to-day basis. So far, I’ve found 4 companies that run cruelty-free cosmetics tests (if you know of any more, please tell me):

The first one is MatTek Corporation, which produces “ready-to-use, human cell-derived, 3-D, organotypic in vitro tissue equivalents.” MatTek tissue equivalents are mitotically and metabolically active, and closely mimic live skin both structurally and biochemically. MatTek tissue equivalents refine, reduce, and replace traditional animal-based testing, eliminate the errors that come from assuming that chemicals that don’t harm rabbit-skin won’t harm human skin, and enable “genomic, proteomic, and drug delivery/discovery research not possible with traditional animal, monolayer cell culture or clinical test procedures.”

MatTek produces 4 different types of skin equivalents (EpiDerm, EpiDerm-FT, MelanoDerm and Melanoma), an eye-tissue equivalent (EpiOcular), an airway equivalent (EpiAirway), a cheek tissue equivalent (EpiOral), a gum tissue equivalent (EpiGingival), and an ectocervico-vaginal equivalent (EpiVaginal). It also produces Human Immune Cell equivalents. These tissue equivalents are very useful to test products that will come in contact with human skin, or are designed to interact with or permeate these types of tissues.

MatTek Corporation was founded in 1985 by two chemical engineering professors in Massachusetts. Its products dramatically reduce product cost, increase lab efficiency, and humanely reduce the number of animals used in research. MatTek’s human cell-based models are widely used in the United States, Europe, and Japan by commercial companies and academic reserachers. MatTek’s products have been used for a wide array of tests — from skin irritation to cystic fibrosis research — an extensive list of technical references is available that documents MatTek products’ broad problem solving capabilities.

Categories : alternatives to animal testing, companies that perform animal-free testing, cruelty free