Repairing Injured Skin: Biologics, Skin Substitutes, and Scaffolds: Review

Abstract

Context: Skin damage is one of the most common injuries that occur daily for millions around the world. Considering this high prevalence, developing new methods of cells and stem cell administration for healing injured skin is necessary. We discuss different new methods of stem cell and cell administration for repairing injured skin, such as skin stem cell gun, scaffolds, hydrogels, and autologous keratinocytes sheets. Evidence Acquisition: Many approaches are available in injured skin healing, such as traditional therapy, transplanting, cell therapy, and stem cell therapy. Skin grafting is still a standard solution to treat patients; however, there are a lot of limitations in this procedure, for example, patients with severe burns have an insufficient skin area for grafting, which is a painful procedure. Results: Although cell therapy approaches dissolve scarring and reduce healing time, considering its high cost, they are not used in everyday society. This article discusses different regenerative dermatology products and compares them with each other. Conclusions: Herein, we introduced several examples of skin cell products in the pharmaceutics market. Although these products are not well known and even some of them didn't reach clinical trials, comparing different kinds of skin engineered products reveals appropriate guidelines for their use and entrance to dermatology market.

The rise of mechanical metamaterials: Auxetic constructs for skin wound healing

“…This complex and large organ has two layers called epidermis and dermis, which are populated by different cell types and have different functional, mechanical, and biological characteristics. 3 The epidermis is a thin, poorly vascularized layer located on the outermost part of the skin. 4 It is composed of keratinocytes that proliferate outwards and, as they differentiate, fill with keratin, creating a layer of dead cells that provides protection against external agents and prevents the loss of water and other substances.…”

“…18 In this context, many different skin substitutes have been developed in the last decades. 3,6,[19][20][21][22][23] The most common and widely used solution is transplantation, 20,24 where the affected area is covered with tissue of the same or similar type as the missing tissue, taken from another part of the patient's body or from a donor, whether of the same species or not, known as autografts, allografts, and xenografts, respectively.…”

“…In fact, besides immunoreactions, 25,26 there is another drawback to the use of human skin grafts that is the non-zero risk of disease transmission, as there has been at least one case of HIV transmission between donor and recipient. 27 To overcome these problems, tissue engineering research has been focusing on the development of scaffolds or tissue substitutes that act as templates for cell infiltration and subsequent regeneration of damaged skin, culminating in a plethora of skin substitutes, 3,28,29 some of them showing promising techniques and results, 30 and even reaching the market and clinic. 31 As an example, searching on PubMed for related keywords such as "skin tissue engineering," "skin substitutes," and "skin scaffolds" from the last few decades yields a substantial number of results, indicating an increasing growth in this area during that time period (as shown in Figure 1).…”

“…This complex and large organ has two layers called epidermis and dermis, which are populated by different cell types and have different functional, mechanical, and biological characteristics. 3 …”

Low-level laser and bovine amniotic fluid-derived cream accelerating skin neck wound healing and reducing inflammation and wound scar in a rat animal model

“…The skin is an effective barrier against adverse external conditions and has properties that can prevent microbial, mechanical, chemical, osmotic, and thermal damage. [ 1 2 ] Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process that affects the quality of life during recovery. It leads to high costs for the health system worldwide.…”