Epidermal cells differentiated from stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth and seeded onto polyvinyl alcohol/silk fibroin nanofiber dressings accelerate wound repair.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or epidermal stem cells (ESCs) may be used as a source of cells for skin wound repair in order to preserve the patient's remaining autologous skin and reduce the wound area and pain. Many studies use MSCs as therapeutic cells for wound healing, but treatment with ESCs instead can speed up wound repair. In additional to therapeutic cells, the biomechanical properties and surface topography of the dressing also affect the speed of wound healing. Silk fibroin (SF) has the property of promoting collagen regeneration to accelerate wound healing. It has made into nanofibers as a wound healing dressing with hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Methanol-treated PVA-SF dressing (PFSM) is a beadless nanofiber that can mimic the structure of endogenous extracellular matrix. In this study, SHED was first differentiated into ESCs and then effects of SHED and ESCs on wound closure were compared. Differentiation of SHED into ESCs was shown to induce growth factors that reached a maximum on the third day. In vivo, PFSM/ESC showed regeneration of granulation tissue on the third day, and the wound closure percent was 53.49%, which was 1.18-fold higher than PFSM/SHED. Therefore, the differentiation of stem cells into ESCs in advance combined with PFSM dressing can effectively accelerate wound healing in vivo. These findings can be applied to clinical treatment in the future.