Revolutionary ‘Skin in a Syringe’ Offers New Hope for Burn Treatment
Swedish researchers at Linköping University have made a significant breakthrough in the field of burn treatment and wound healing. They have developed an innovative “skin in a syringe” technology that could potentially revolutionize the way we approach these medical challenges.
The groundbreaking gel, developed under the leadership of Professor Daniel Aili and Johan Junker from the Center for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology, contains live fibroblast cells on gelatin beads. These are stabilized with hyaluronic acid using a process known as click chemistry.
What sets this gel apart is its unique property to become liquid under light pressure. This allows it to be injected directly into wounds or 3D-printed into skin grafts. Once applied, the gel solidifies and aids the body in building a functional dermis, as opposed to scar tissue.
In successful mouse trials, the 3D-printed constructs not only supported cell survival but also promoted blood vessel formation. This shows immense promise for creating patient-specific grafts from minimal skin biopsies. The breakthrough could potentially eliminate the severe scarring typically associated with current burn treatments, which only replace the epidermis layer.
Source: Science Daily