Researchers create artificial skin with 3D printing that allow blood circulation
During severe treatment Burns and trauma, skin regeneration can be a matter of life or death. Extensive burns are usually treated by transplanting a thin layer of epidermis, the upper layer of the skin, elsewhere. However, this method not only leaves large wounds, but also restores the skin to its original function. Unless the dermis, the layer of the epidermis, which contains blood vessels and nerves, cannot be considered a living skin.
Now, the work of Swedish researchers may bring the drug closer to the ability to regenerate live skin. They have developed two types of 3D bioprining techniques for artificial production of thick skin, which is a vascular, meaning it contains blood vessels. One technique produces skin that has cells and the other creates blood vessels arbitrarily in the tissue. These two technologies have different approaches to the same challenge. These approaches are stated in two studies published in the journal Advanced HealthCare Pathers.
“The dermis is very complicated that we can’t grow in the laboratory. We don’t even know what all its components are,” said Johan Junker, an assistant professor at Linköping and plastic surgery. “That’s why we and many others think that we can probably bond building blocks and then allow the body to make your body.”
Junker and his team designed a biological connection called “μink” in which fibroblasts-a silly that produce skin components such as collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid-are cultivated on the surface of small sponge sponge gelatin grains and are placed in hyaluronic acid gel. By creating this ink in 3D using a 3D printer, they were able to create a skin structure full of high density cells.
In a transplant test using mice, the researchers confirmed that living cells grow inside the tissue components made of this ink, secrete collagen and regenerate dermis. The new blood vessels also grown inside the transplant, indicating that long -term tissue stabilization conditions have been met.
Blood vessels play an important role in the construction of artificial tissues. No matter how many cells are cultivated to create a tissue model, without blood vessels, oxygen and nutrients cannot be transported evenly to all cells. And without blood vessels, with the growth of tissue structure, the cells of the center of the tissue die.
The research team has also developed a technology called Refresh (Restore Hydrogel Suspended with Free Floating), which makes it possible to build flexible blood vessels in artificial tissues by printing and regulating hydrogel yarn, which has 98 % water. These are much harder than conventional gel materials and can maintain their shape even if tied or woven. In addition, they also have memory -shaped features that allow them to return to their original shape even when crushing.
