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Three‐dimensional hyaluronic acid grafts promote healing and reduce scar formation in skin incision wounds
Author(s) -
Hu Min,
Sabelman Eric E.,
Cao Yang,
Chang James,
Hentz Vincent R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part b: applied biomaterials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-4981
pISSN - 1552-4973
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.b.20001
Subject(s) - scars , hyaluronic acid , wound healing , medicine , immunostaining , regeneration (biology) , surgery , wound closure , scar tissue , pathology , anatomy , immunohistochemistry , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Hyaluronic acid (HA) has been found to play important roles in tissue regeneration and wound‐healing processes. Fetal tissue with a high concentration of HA heals rapidly without scarring. The present study employed HA formed into three‐dimensional strands with or without keratinocytes to treat full‐thickness skin incision wounds in rats. Wound closure rates of HA strand grafts both with and without keratinocytes were substantially enhanced. The closure times of both HA grafts were less than 1 day (average 16 h), about 1/7 that of the contralateral control incisions (114 h, p < .01). Average wound areas after 10 days were HA‐only graft: 0.151 mm 2 ± 0.035; HA + cell grafts: 0.143 mm 2 ± 0.036 and controls: 14.434 mm 2 ± 1.175, experimental areas were 1% of the controls ( p < 0.01). Transforming growth factor (TGF) β1 measured by immunostaining was remarkably reduced in HA‐treated wounds compared to the controls. In conclusion, HA grafts appeared to produce a fetal‐like environment with reduced TGF‐β1, which is known to be elevated in incipient scars. The HA strands with or without cultured cells may potentially improve clinical wound healing as well as reduce scar formation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 67B: 586–592, 2003