Tissue Engineering of Skin

Abstract

The skin plays a crucial role in protecting the integrity of the body's internal milieu. The loss of this largest organ is incompatible with sustained life. In reconstructive surgery or burn management, substitution of the skin is often necessary. In addition to traditional approaches such as split-or full-thickness skin grafts, tissue flaps and free-tissue transfers, skin bioengineering in vitro or in vivo has been developing over the past decades. It applies the principles and methods of both engineering and life sciences toward the development of substitutes to restore and maintain skin structure and function. Currently, these methods are valuable alternatives or complements to other techniques in reconstructive surgery. This review article deals with the evolution and current approaches to the development of in vitro and in vivo epidermis and dermis.

Improvement of Bone Strength and Dermal Thickness Due to Dietary Edible Bird’s Nest Extract in Ovariectomized Rats

“…It is noteworthy that oral administration of EBNE increased dermal thickness in ovariectomized rats, because thinning of the dermal layer is associated with skin aging in human subjects. 22) In conclusion, oral administration of EBNE increased bone strength and dermal thickness in ovariectomized rats. We did not find any anti-osteoporosis mechanism of EBNE in this study, and this needs further elucidation.…”

Development of a Tissue-Engineered Human Oral Mucosa: From the Bench to the Bed Side

“…A dermal equivalent should be best made out of human, rather than animal, collagen. The human collagen (dermis) helped to promote deposition of additional basement membrane constituents, showed a better pattern of keratinocyte differentiation and had less immunogenicity than the animal collagen [Boyce, 1996;Pomahac et al, 1998]. Lastly, the use of a dermal equivalent enhances the handling characteristics of the equivalent.…”

Synthetic Polymer Scaffolds for Stem Cell Transplantation in Retinal Tissue Engineering

“…The field was largely developed in order to address the shortage of tissues and organs available for transplantation [18]. Previous studies have shown that cells grown on a polymer scaffold were able to reconstruct complex tissues correctly, including bone, skin, cartilage and blood vessels [19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In the past 20 years, retinal transplantation has been investigated.…”