title: Incorporation of stored cell-free dermal collagen allografts into skin wounds: a short term study.
abstract: Allogeneic dermal collagen has been evaluated as an alternative to skin autografts for the permanent replacement of lost or damaged skin in the rat. All non-collagenous structures were removed from full-thickness back skin by treatment with a solution of crystalline trypsin. Such dermal collagen preparations were grafted into skin wounds, examined up to 8 1/2 weeks after operation, and compared with excised wounds and skin isografts and allografts of the same initial size. The dermal collagen grafts, particularly when dressed with a sheet of dermal collagen, become recellularised, revascularised and re-epidermalised. Unlike the skin allografts, there was no evidence of cellular rejection. Whereas contracture of the excised wounds was delayed, but not suppressed, by applying a conventional dressing, collagen grafts maintained from 60 to 100 per cent of their original size. In contrast, equivalent skin isografts shrank to 50-60 per cent and showed persistent epidermal hyperplasia.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002474:Cell-Free System; D003094:Collagen; D062109:Dermatologic Surgical Procedures; D051381:Rats; D012867:Skin / Q000293:injuries; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000379:methods; D014357:Trypsin
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D014357:Trypsin