Establishment of a Model for Human Hypertrophic Scar Using Tissue Engineering Method
Yawei Li, Xiaofeng Shan, Jie Liang, Zhigang Cai- General Medicine
- Otorhinolaryngology
- Surgery
Background
Treatment of human hypertrophic scar (HS) is a challenge for plastic surgeons, whereas the clinical and experimental research has been limited due to the lack of an ideal model of human HS tissue.
Objective:
To establish a model of human HS using tissue engineering method, to improve the research for HS in the clinic and laboratory.
Methods:
Hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSFBs) were transferred to polylactic acid (PLA)/polyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffolds. Biocompatibility of HSFBs-PLA/PGA composites was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy. Composites of HSFBs-PLA/PGA were implanted in subcutaneous pockets in athymic mice after 4 weeks in vitro culture. A re-entry operation was performed to obtain the HS-like tissues after 12 weeks of in vivo culture. The histological stain, the expression of type I collagen, the proliferation ability, and vitality of HSFBs were compared between human HS tissue and HS-like tissue.
Results:
The structure of PLA/PGA scaffolds facilitates HSFBs adhesion and proliferation. The HSFBs-PLA/PGA composites were in vivo cultured for 12 weeks, and then HS-like tissues were harvested from nude athymic mice. There was no statistical significance in the expression of type I collagen, cell cycle, and cell proliferation between human HS tissue and HS-like tissue.
Conclusion:
The authors successfully established a model of human HS using the tissue engineering method, which could provide HS-like tissue for research. And it also could provide enough HS-like tissues to help reduce experimental variability within groups. This model can be used to investigate in prevention and treatment of HS and further explore the mechanisms of HS.