Artificial skin to graf in people with Great wounds or burns It is increasingly sophisticated, but there are still challenges in the investigation. Finding materials that imitate the dermis, the thick and complex layer under the dermis, is being difficult.
However, science could be very close to achieving it. A recent study published in Advanced Healthcare Materials talk about the creation of A new artificial skin developed by the Center for Medicine and Traumatology in Catastrophes and the University of Linköping.
These two Swedish organisms have baptized their creation as “Skin in syringe”. It is a gel that contains living cells that can be printed in 3D and that, according to the authors of the investigation, is activated when placed on the affected area.
Traditional leather grafts usually With the epidermis, A tissue that has only one type of cells. However, when this layer is transplanted, severe scars are produced. The dermis is the layer that makes the skin work properly.
But why? Because the dermis contains blood vessels that feed the skin, nerves, follicles and other elements that give the necessary elasticity to this organ. However, grafting dermis is a very complex process to raise.
This is because, if we take away a person to implement it in a burn, we leave in that body A similar wound. Therefore, that artificial skin is able to imitate this dermis is the great challenge in this type of investigations.
“The dermis is so complex that we cannot cultivate it in the laboratory,” explains Johan Junker, who has led this study. “That’s why, we think we could transplant Its basic components and let it be the body itself that forms the dermis. “
Luckily, fibroblasts, The most frequent cell in the dermis is easily grown in the laboratory and can be transformed into more specialized cells. So, after growing those fibroblasts, they take them to the affected skin with that “skin in syringe.”
This substance is formed by gelatin pearls and a gel of hyaluronic acid. “This substance becomes liquid When pressure is applied. Thus, you can put in a syringe and apply in a liquid state, but then recover its consistency of gel. “
Synthetic skin printing.
From gel to new skin
This has been explained by Daniel Aili, professor of molecular physics at Linköping University. “This mechanism also allows you to print in 3D The gel with cells Inside “. In the study small albums were printed that they used in mice skin.
The process turned out to be simple: the individual’s cells are extracted with a minimum skin biopsy, They are grown in the laboratory, are printed in 3D in the form of graft and, finally, they apply on the wound.
“We see that cells survive and it is evident that they produce different necessary substances To create new dermis “Explains Junker. One of the most important substances is what can produce the blood vessels.
“In grafts blood vessels are formed, Something crucial for the tissue to survive in the body, “continues Junker. To achieve this blood supply, the authors have created some ‘threads’ that are 98% water and call hydrogels.
“Los hilos de hidrogel son bastante elásticos, de manera que podemos hacerles nudos y también formar minitubos, o canales perfusibles, a través de los cuales bombear líquidos o permitir que crezcan células de vasos sanguíneos”, explica Aili.
El desarrollo de pieles artificiales es una investigación imprescindible para aumentar la esperanza de vida de las personas con grandes heridas y quemaduras. Esto se debe a que la piel evita que se produzcan en estas zonas infecciones potencialmente mortales.
Piel ‘made in Spain’
España también es un referente en la elaboración de pieles artificiales. De hecho, el año pasado la Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS) autorizó la piel artificial de la Universidad de Granada, conocida como UGRSKIN.
Para realizarlo se toman células sanas de los pacientes con quemaduras y se unen a un biomaterial a base de materiales como el plasma y la agarosa. De esta forma se consigue un material que el cuerpo es capaz de tolerar sin problemas.
“Eso se convertirá en la epidermis del paciente”, explica este artículo de El País. “El paciente no será capaz de sudar ni tendrá vello”. Pero, eso sí, UGRSKIN termina también produciendo una dermis y esto la diferencia de las demás del mercado, tal y como explica este diario.
A partir del segundo mes, la zona que se encuentra bajo la piel artificial injertada ha conseguido formar un tejido muy similar a la dermis.
