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This modified procedure seems to be a simple and promising treatment for larger vitiliginous areas.

Autologous epidermal cellular grafting achieved a high percentage of repigmentation, which was maintained during follow-up in the majority of patients. Although it improved quality of life, a perfect colour match was seldom obtained.

Twelve patients with 16 leg ulcers, existing for at least 3 months and not responsive to conventional inpatient therapy of at least 3 weeks, were treated with repeated applications of cultured allogenic keratinocyte sheets. A marked decrease in size was seen in all ulcers but 2. Complete closure of the ulcer was seen in 62% of the ulcers within 8 weeks. Healing was due to enhanced granulation and increased epithelialization, starting from the periphery of the wound. This edge effect suggests that the epidermal allografts act by stimulation of migration and/or multiplication of the acceptor’s keratinocytes, rather than by take of the allograft.

This set-up is simple and inexpensive; it reduces cell preparation time, amount of reagents used, and costs, and obviates the need of a laboratory for extraction of epidermal cells.

Cryopreservation of teeth before autotransplantation may create new possibilities in dentistry. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a standardised cryopreservation procedure on human periodontal ligament (PDL) cell cultures. Human PDL fibroblasts obtained from immature third molars of 11 patients were cultured and divided into two groups. The experimental group was cryopreserved and cultured after thawing. The control group was cultured without cryopreservation. A comparison was made between cryopreserved and control cells. To evaluate possible differences in the characteristics of the fibroblasts, the cells in both groups were tested for viability (membrane integrity), growth capacity and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression. The Wilcoxon test for paired comparison between cryopreserved and non-cryopreserved cells was performed for each characteristic. The results showed that membrane integrity of cells was not influenced by cryopreservation. There was no statistically significant difference in growth capacity between cryopreserved and control cells. Non-cryopreserved cells were slightly stronger positive for ALP, but the difference was not statistically significant. From these experiments it can be concluded that the observed parameters are not influenced by cryopreservation.

Wound bed preparation remains a very important issue in wound healing. To promote the production of granulation tissue, it is necessary to remove necrotic tissue and to control infection. Necrotic tissue may be removed using a hydrogel preparation. Flaminal and Flaminal Hydro (Flen Pharma, Belgium) are 2 new hydroactive colloid gel dressings with state antibacterial properties. These properties are attributed to an enzymatic complex in their formulation. In the study described in this report, the antibacterial effects of Flaminal and Flaminal Hydro were confirmed in an in vitro as well as an in vivo setting. It was also demonstrated that Flaminal and Flaminal Hydro are not toxic to keratinocytes in vitro using an MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] test.

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