title: Skin anatomy and antigen expression after burn wound closure with composite grafts of cultured skin cells and biopolymers.
abstract: Closure of large skin wounds (i.e., burns, congenital giant nevus, reconstruction of traumatic injury) with split-thickness skin grafts requires extensive harvesting of autologous skin. Composite grafts consisting of collagen-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) substrates populated with cultured dermal fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes were tested in a pilot study on full-thickness burn wounds of three patients as an alternative to split-thickness skin. Light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed regeneration of epidermal and dermal tissue by 2 weeks, with degradation of the collagen-GAG implant associated with low numbers of leukocytes, and deposition of new collagen by fibroblasts. Complete basement membrane, including anchoring fibrils and anchoring plaques, is formed by 2 weeks, is mature by 3 months, and accounts for the absence of blistering of healed epidermis. All skin antigens tested (involucrin, filaggrin, laminin, collagens IV and VII, fibronectin, and chondroitin-sulfate) were expressed by 16 days after grafting. This cultured skin analogue provides an experimental alternative to split-thickness skin graft that develops histiotypic markers of skin anatomy and antigen expression after wound closure.
authors.affiliation: Shriners Burns Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Boyce
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Greenhalgh
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kagan
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Housinger
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sorrell
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Childress
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rieman
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Warden
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000941:Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D002056:Burns / Q000601:surgery*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003094:Collagen; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D000091344:Filaggrin Proteins; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology*; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; C000717249:FLG protein, human; D000091344:Filaggrin Proteins; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D003094:Collagen