title: Treatment of burn injury by cellular repair.
abstract: Burn injury leads to a direct damaging effect on cells, disrupting the assembly of the cell and denaturing proteins. Although modern medicine has significantly improved the survival of burn victims, a method to treat injury at the cellular level is presented. In particular, the cell membrane is most vulnerable to heat injury. Copolymer surfactants have been shown to repair the cell membrane, and agents such as poloxamer 188 have demonstrated this effect in numerous studies. Furthermore, copolymer surfactants have been shown to act as molecular chaperones, allowing denatured proteins to regain their native confirmation. Pharmaceutical agents may be developed to repair the cell membrane and refold proteins, mimicking endogenous repair mechanisms and salvaging cells that would otherwise be lost.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Surgery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Neil D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Dalal
authors.forename: Raphael C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002056:Burns / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D020442:Poloxamer / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D020442:Poloxamer