Aiping Liu1, Edgar Ocotl1, Aos Karim1, Josiah J Wolf2, Benjamin L Cox2, Kevin W Eliceiri3, Angela L F Gibson4. 1. Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA. 2. Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Medical Engineering Group, Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI, USA. 3. Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Medical Engineering Group, Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. 4. Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA. Electronic address: gibson@surgery.wisc.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Early mechanisms underlying the progressive tissue death and the regenerative capability of burn wounds are understudied in human skin. A clinically relevant, reproducible model for human burn wound healing is needed to elucidate the early changes in the human burn wound environment. This study reports a reproducible contact burn model on human skin that explores the extent of tissue injury and healing over time, and defines the inter-individual variability in human skin to enable use in mechanistic studies on burn wound progression and healing. METHODS: Using a customized burn device, contact burns of various depths were created on human skin by two operators and were evaluated for histologic depth by three raters to determine reproducibility. Early burn wound progression and wound healing were also evaluated histologically after the thermally injured human skin was cultured ex vivo for up to 14 days. RESULTS: Burn depths were reproducibly generated on human skin in a temperature- or time-dependent manner. No significant difference in operator-created or rater-determined depth was observed within each patient sample. However, significant inter-individual variation was identified in burn depth in ten patient samples. Burn-injured ex vivo human skin placed into culture demonstrated differential progression of cell death and collagen denaturation for high and low temperature contact burns, while re-epithelialization was observed in superficial burn wounds over a period of 14 days. CONCLUSION: This model represents an invaluable tool to evaluate the inter-individual variability in early burn wound progression and wound healing to complement current animal models and enhance the translation of preclinical research to improvements in patient care.
BACKGROUND: Early mechanisms underlying the progressive tissue death and the regenerative capability of burn wounds are understudied in human skin. A clinically relevant, reproducible model for human burn wound healing is needed to elucidate the early changes in the human burn wound environment. This study reports a reproducible contact burn model on human skin that explores the extent of tissue injury and healing over time, and defines the inter-individual variability in human skin to enable use in mechanistic studies on burn wound progression and healing. METHODS: Using a customized burn device, contact burns of various depths were created on human skin by two operators and were evaluated for histologic depth by three raters to determine reproducibility. Early burn wound progression and wound healing were also evaluated histologically after the thermally injured human skin was cultured ex vivo for up to 14 days. RESULTS: Burn depths were reproducibly generated on human skin in a temperature- or time-dependent manner. No significant difference in operator-created or rater-determined depth was observed within each patient sample. However, significant inter-individual variation was identified in burn depth in ten patient samples. Burn-injured ex vivo human skin placed into culture demonstrated differential progression of cell death and collagen denaturation for high and low temperature contact burns, while re-epithelialization was observed in superficial burn wounds over a period of 14 days. CONCLUSION: This model represents an invaluable tool to evaluate the inter-individual variability in early burn wound progression and wound healing to complement current animal models and enhance the translation of preclinical research to improvements in patient care.
Authors: Elisabeth Hofmann; Julia Fink; Anita Eberl; Eva-Maria Prugger; Dagmar Kolb; Hanna Luze; Simon Schwingenschuh; Thomas Birngruber; Christoph Magnes; Selma I Mautner; Lars-Peter Kamolz; Petra Kotzbeck Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2021-01-11 Impact factor: 4.379