A team of Canadian scientists has developed a device that can be used to “print” sheets of artificial skin directly onto the wounds of burn victims, and the team said it was tested on full-thickness burns in pigs – with positive results.
The team published the results of its latest trial in the journal Biofabrication – putting it one step closer to actual use in burn clinics, which now has limited options to replace damaged skin. The most common is a skin graft, which involves removing damaged tissue and replacing it with healthy skin from another part of the body, however it is not always an option.
“In cases where a patient has extensive full thickness burns – which destroy both the upper and lower layers of the skin – there is not always sufficient healthy skin left to use,” researcher Axel Günther explained in a press release. He noted that other treatments – such as collagen scaffolds and in vitro skin substitutes – also cannot be applied universally and have their limits and downsides.
The device creates an alternative method by depositing strips of a special bioink directly onto a wound. This bioink contains healing proteins as well as mesenchymal stromal cells, which assist the body’s immune system and encourage new cell growth.
“Most significantly, our results showed that the [mesenchymal stromal cell]-treated wounds healed extremely well,” he continued, “with a reduction in inflammation, scarring, and contraction compared with both the untreated wounds and those treated with a collagen scaffold.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
