Developments toward an Ideal Skin Substitute: A Commentary

Abstract

Skin grafting always has been considered a challenging task for the researchers and tissue engineers from its first introduction in 1871 by Reverdin. Skin substitutes, composed of degradable synthetic or biological components, are being considered as emergency replacements/grafts to the damaged skin. A number of technical developments in this filed have led to development of several skin substitutes, such as Biobrane®, Integra®, OrCel®, Suprathel® etc which are available for clinical utilization. From these, some characteristics, including infection resistance, water loss prevention, long shelf life, easy to store are set as criteria for assessment of the products. Post grafting problems associated with available skin substitutes questioned their reliability and reject them as an ideal skin substitute. Innovative tissue engineering approaches based on biological scaffolds and clinical grade stem cells could be an attractive alternative for available skin substitutes.

Keywords

• tissue engineering
• allografts
• xenografts
• epidermis
• keratinocyte cultures
• skin substitutes