Bone Marrow Stem Cells Used to Regenerate Skin

    A study suggests that adult bone marrow stem cells can be used in the construction of artificial skin. The findings mark an advancement in wound healing and may be used to pioneer a method of organ reconstruction.

    To investigate the practicability of repairing burns with tissue-engineered skin combined with bone marrow stem cells, the study established a burn wound model on pig skin, which is known to be anatomically and physiologically similar to human skin.

    Engineering technology and biomedical theory methods were used to make artificial skin with natural materials and bone marrow derived stem cells. Once the artificial skin was attached to the patient and the dermal layer began to regenerate, stem cells were differentiated into skin cells. The cells are self-renewing and raise the quality of healing in wound therapy. When grafted to burns, the engineered skin containing stem cells healed better, suffered less wound contraction and blood vessels developed better.

    "We hope this so-called 'engineered structural tissue' will someday supercede the plastic and metal prostheses currently used to replace damaged joints and bones, with suitable materials and stem cells," said Yan Jin of the Fourth Military Medical University, who headed the study.