Investigators in Sweden have developed a “skin in an injectable syringe that can cure burns without scars, taking advantage of innovative materials and biological mechanisms.
This “skin in a syringe” gel “developed at the University of Linköping can help treat severe burns and wounds when supporting the body in the regeneration of the dermis and the healing of wounds.
The gel, designed to be injectable, is full of living cells so that it can be applied directly to wounds or even printed in 3D in skin grafts. It solidifies again after the application. The body then grows new complete skin of these cells.
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In experiments in mice, the gel sprouted the blood vessels, integrated with the surrounding tissue and began to produce the matrix rich in collagen necessary for real dermis.
The researcher had mixed gelatin pearls with a gel that consisted of another specific substance of the body, hyaluronic acid.
When accounts and gel are mixed, they are connected using what is known as click chemistry. The result is a gel that, something simplified, can be called skin in a syringe.
Johan Junker, researcher at the Swedish Center for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology and Teacher in Plastic Surgery at the University of Linköping, who directed the study published in advanced medical care materials, explained: “We see that cells survive, and it is clear that they produce different substances that are needed to create new dermis.”
Large burns are often treated by transplanting a thin layer of the upper part of the skin, the epidermis. This is basically composed of a unique cell type. The transplant only this part of the skin leads to severe scars.
Under the epidermis, there is a thicker and more advanced layer of skin called dermis. It has blood vessels, nerves, hair follicles and other structures necessary for skin and elasticity function. However, the transplant of the dermis is rarely an option, since the procedure leaves a wound as large as the wound to heal.
Of course, this is still experimental. The studies were conducted in mice, not in people. Clinical trials are years away, and climbing the process for human burns will be difficult. But the beginning, that the skin could be grown and surrendered as wet, marks a jump beyond today’s grafts.
Applications do not stop in Burns. Engineers could use the same gels and filaments, which are useful for organ reparation, the “mini organs” cultivated in laboratory for drug tests and other things.
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