Comparison of three different skin substitutes in promoting wound healing in an ovine model

The contribution of immunohistochemistry to the development of hydrogels for skin repair and regeneration

“…22 A further type of healing-promoting procedure is based on hydrogels enriched with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). 23 Indeed, PRP plays an essential role during the inflammatory phase by providing several cytokines involved in the regular healing process. 24 Finally, the polymers forming hydrogels can be also able to influence the different healing stages of injured skin by acting on cell proliferation, migration, maturation and differentiation, angiogenesis, cell signalling and inflammation.…”

“…Most studies have been focused on factors involved in promoting fibroblast proliferation, extracellular matrix remodelling and angiogenesis, including cell growth factors among which transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and interleukins such as IL-6 and IL-22 (Figure 1). All the studies considered in this review applied IHC at light microscopy, sometimes using fluorescent markers 21,23 but more frequently using enzyme-based revealing systems, 12,[14][15][16]18,25,27,28,31,33 probably because of the intrinsic autofluorescence of the skin that prevents the visualization or leads to underestimation of the signal arising from the fluorophore bound to the antibody. 36 There are various examples of application of IHC to detect markers of the wound healing phases.…”

“…12 Epidermal maturation has also been investigated in sections of mouse and sheep skin, by evaluating the immunolabelling for cytokeratin 14 (CK-14,, a marker of the proliferating basal keratinocytes), and for involucrin and CK10 (two markers linked to the final maturation stage of the epidermal cells): fluorescent secondary antibodies were here used, and images taken by confocal fluorescence microscopy. 21,23 The re-epithelialization process was also studied by Kang et al on mouse skin through the immunodetection of CK14 and CK15 using an HRP-conjugated secondary antibody colour-developed with DAB. 27 Another essential process that occurs during the proliferative phase is the formation of new blood vessels: this process can be easily monitored by IHC, by detecting markers such as FGF, TGF-β, the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), VEGF and CD31: a semi-quantitative assessment of the angiogenetic process was obtained by measuring the integral absorbance and mean optical density of the immunostaining and by counting the new blood vessels per square millimetre area as an estimate of the microvessel formation.…”

“…A further type of healing-promoting procedure is based on hydrogels enriched with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). 23 Indeed, PRP plays an essential role during the inflammatory phase by providing several cytokines involved in the regular healing process. 24 …”

The Discovery and Development of Natural-Based Biomaterials with Demonstrated Wound Healing Properties: A Reliable Approach in Clinical Trials

“…To date, the advancement of extracellular matrix (ECM)-based biomaterials with various technologies for fabrication has been presented [ 19 ]. For this reason, there is a need to develop readily available, natural-based products, and cost-effective skin substitutes with features for clinical application in full-thickness skin defects [ 20 ]. It is worth noting that modern biomaterial-based wound dressings can integrate multiple functions, such as maintaining a moist environment, managing exudates, antibacterial capacity, injectability, and suitable mechanical properties, in more complicated situations [ 21 , 22 ].…”