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Skin Renewal Doctors achieved groundbreaking wound healing without scarring
Life does not leave its mark on most people. Whether due to falls and injuries in childhood, later accidents during sports or surgical procedures, just about every person carries scars around with them. Researchers now discovered a way to heal wounds without scarring.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine found in their study that wound healing without scarring is possible. With a new method, medical professionals can regenerate normal skin wounds without causing common scar tissue. The experts published the results of their study in the journal "Sciene".
Scars often leave scars on our body. Physicians now discovered a way to enable wound healing without scarring. (Image: gamjai / fotolia.com) Skin regeneration without scarring was previously considered impossible
The regeneration of normal skin - without scarring - in existing deeper wounds has been considered impossible in mammals. But now medical professionals have managed to achieve such scar-free wound healing. Wound healing was manipulated to produce healthy skin regeneration rather than scarring, says researcher George Cotsarelis of the University of Pennsylvania.
The regeneration of hair follicles leads to amazing effects
The secret of the new method is to first regenerate the hair follicles. Thereafter, the fat will also regenerate in response to the signals from the follicles, the researchers report. Explanation: Scar tissue contains no fat cells or hair follicles, experts say.
Scar tissue and aging skin are associated with adipocytes
The skin over a small, superficial cut is regenerated by filling it with fat cells. These are also called adipocytes. Scar tissue, on the other hand, consists almost entirely of cells called myofibroblasts, which contain no fat cells at all, say the physicians. This creates the typical appearance of scarred skin. The situation is similar with aging skin. As we age, we lose our adipocytes. This leads to discoloration and deep and irreversible wrinkles, the authors explain in their study.
Scar tissue on healing skin can be transformed
The American scientists have now discovered that existing myofibroblasts can actually be converted into adipocytes. This result indicates that scar tissue is convertible into regenerated skin on healing wounds. So far it has been assumed that this is only possible with fish and amphibians.
Hair follicles always develop first in regenerating skin
There is the possibility after a wound that tissue is regenerated. This prevents scarring, explains author Maksim Plikus from the University of California, Irvine. Previous studies have already shown that fat cells and hair follicles develop separately in the regenerating skin. But this does not happen independently of each other. Hair follicles always develop first, adds the expert.
Regeneration in laboratory tests on mice and on human skin samples checked
The physicians examined whether the growth of hair follicles actually supports the growth of fat cells in the regenerating skin. So the experts examined the effects of growing hair follicles in new scar tissue in mice and human skin samples from the lab. Such a process would never occur in nature because scar tissue does not contain hair follicles.
BMP can convert myofibroblasts into adipocytes
The physicians found out that the hair follicles contain a so-called signaling protein. This is called Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP). The protein actually seems to be able to convert myofibroblasts into adipocytes, the experts explain. When the researchers induced hair follicles in a healing wound, the resulting skin was indistinguishable from preexisting skin. In fact, it has been suggested that myofibroblasts are unable to become another cell type, Cotsarelis explains. However, the new research now shows that we have the opportunity to influence these cells. So they can be efficiently converted into adipocytes, adds the expert.
Study results are a major breakthrough medical
The experiment worked in mice and human skin samples. However, the growth of hair follicles in a wound of a living human being is another problem altogether. Nevertheless, the transformation of myofibroblasts into adipocytes is a major breakthrough, because this process has been biologically impossible in mammals, the authors explain.
Further research is needed
If the team could somehow reproduce the results in a human study, this would lead to a whole new way of wound healing. In this case, the regenerated skin would be indistinguishable from the normal skin, say the experts. Thus hope the physicians with their findings in the future, a wound healing without scars allow. (As)
