OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the quality of healing of porcine skin wounds after burn injury so as to provide a new method for clinical skin repair in the future. METHODS: Seventy-two deep-partial thickness burn wounds were produced on the back of 6 minipigs and then the pigs were randomly divided into 6 groups: saline control, MSCs treatment, MSCs plus basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) treatment, MSCs plus epidermal growth factor (EGF) treatment, bFGF treatment or EGF treatment only. MSCs were isolated from porcine marrow and cultured in vitro. After labeling with BrdU, MSCs were autografted onto the skin wounds. 7, 14, 21 and 42 days after the injury, the area of the wounds were measured and the histological examination was performed to evaluate the velocity and quality of wound healing.1, 2 and 4 weeks after transplantation, immunohistochemical examinations were carried out to detect the positive staining of BrdU, cytokeratin and S-100 to evaluate the wound healing quality. RESULTS: The area of wounds was decreased at day 7 and most of these wounds were healed on day 21 after injury. Although there was no significant statistical difference in the contraction rate among these six groups, however, the reduced wound areas in the MSCs plus bFGF treatment group was 15% to 20% more than that in the other 5 groups. Histological examination and semi-quantitative analysis demonstrated that the number of vessels and the expression density of S-100 in the MSCs plus bFGF treatment wounds were significantly enhanced than that in the other groups. CONCLUSION: MSCs autografting may benefit to enhance the wound healing quality in porcine skin, which may open a new way to reach a "perfect repair" after skin injury.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the quality of healing of porcine skin wounds after burn injury so as to provide a new method for clinical skin repair in the future. METHODS: Seventy-two deep-partial thickness burn wounds were produced on the back of 6 minipigs and then the pigs were randomly divided into 6 groups: saline control, MSCs treatment, MSCs plus basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) treatment, MSCs plus epidermal growth factor (EGF) treatment, bFGF treatment or EGF treatment only. MSCs were isolated from porcine marrow and cultured in vitro. After labeling with BrdU, MSCs were autografted onto the skin wounds. 7, 14, 21 and 42 days after the injury, the area of the wounds were measured and the histological examination was performed to evaluate the velocity and quality of wound healing.1, 2 and 4 weeks after transplantation, immunohistochemical examinations were carried out to detect the positive staining of BrdU, cytokeratin and S-100 to evaluate the wound healing quality. RESULTS: The area of wounds was decreased at day 7 and most of these wounds were healed on day 21 after injury. Although there was no significant statistical difference in the contraction rate among these six groups, however, the reduced wound areas in the MSCs plus bFGF treatment group was 15% to 20% more than that in the other 5 groups. Histological examination and semi-quantitative analysis demonstrated that the number of vessels and the expression density of S-100 in the MSCs plus bFGF treatment wounds were significantly enhanced than that in the other groups. CONCLUSION: MSCs autografting may benefit to enhance the wound healing quality in porcine skin, which may open a new way to reach a "perfect repair" after skin injury.