Artificial Skin

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Artificial Skin

• By Simranjit Rekhi

2
Functions of Skin?

• Skin is the largest organ in the human body
• Helps preserve fluid balance
• Controls body temperature
• Helps prevent and fight diseases

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What is it?

• About Thirty years ago, burn surgeons determined
  that badly burned skin should be removed as
  quickly as possible, followed by immediate and
  permanent replacement of the lost skin.
• Doctors are able to take a postage stamp-sized
  piece of skin from the patient and grow the skin
  under special tissue culture conditions.
• From this small piece of skin, technicians can
  grow enough skin to cover nearly the entire body
  in just 3 weeks

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Why is it Needed?

• When skin is damaged or lost due to severe injury
  or burns, bacteria and other microorganisms have
  easy access to warm, nutrient-rich body fluids.
• To treat a severe burn, surgeons first remove the
  burned skin and then quickly cover the underlying
  tissue, usually with a combination of
  laboratory-grown skin cells and artificial skin.

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Types of Skin Replacements

• Integra Dermal Regeneration Template
• Semi -synthetic approach to skin regeneration
• Researchers develop a bi-layer membrane system
  called the Dermal Regeneration Template
• The first and only FDA approved tissue engineered
  product for burn and reconstructive surgery
• Dermal replacement layer is constructed of a
  porous, biodegradable matrix of cross-linked
  bovine tendon collagen and the glycos-aminoglycan
  chondroitin 6-sulfate.
• Allows a the wound to establish a new tissue base

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Continued

• Second layer acts as a temporary replacement
  (Epidermal ) made from silicone polymer
• Following completion of the dermal layer
  physicians replace the temporary epidermal with
  an epidermal auto-graft.
• Skin Graft
• taking cells from a non-burned epidermal layer of
  skin, growing them into large sheets of cells in
  a laboratory

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How does it work?

• The burn surgeon drapes a sheet of Integra over
  the wounded area for 2 to 4 weeks.
• Allows the victims cells to grow a new dermis on
  top of matrix of the Integra .
• Then the surgeon removes the top layer of the
  Integra and applies a very thin sheet of the
  victims own epithelial cells.
• Over time, a normal epidermis (except for the
  absence of hair follicles) is reconstructed from
  these cells.

• Skin replacement. Using a bilayer membrane
  system, scientists at Integra LifeSciences help
  repair skin lesions and burns.

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Types of Skin Replacements

• Epicel skin replacement technology
• Introduced by Genzyme Biosurgery in 1987.
• Physicians isolate individual cells from a
  postage-stamp-sized biopsy of skin.
• Grow the cells for about 2 to 3 weeks and allow
  them to form individual sheets of tissue.
• Then surgeons transplant these sheets of tissue
  to the burnt area where these sheets fuse over
  time with the burnt area.

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Works Cited

• http//www.nigms.nih.gov/Publications/Factsheet_Ar
  tificialSkin.htm
• http//www.seattlepi.com/local/burn231.shtml
• http//www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/images/mdis_0
  000_0001_0_img0032.jpg
• http//www.scielo.org.za/img/revistas/sajs/v104n11
  -12/a30fig02.gif
• http//pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/mdd/v07/i09/
  html/904feature_willis1.html
• http//www.integra-ls.com/products/default.aspx?pr
  oduct46Product20Description
• http//www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/00
  2363.htm
• http//www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/
  guide/skin-biopsies
• http//www.burnsurvivor.com/skin_substitutes.html