Tissue Engineering Replacement Skin
ScienceDaily looks at the work of a German group in the tissue engineering field: "We pluck a few hairs off the back of the patient's head and extract adult stem cells from their roots, which we then proliferate in a cell culture for about two weeks. Then we reduce the nutrient solution until it no longer covers the upper sides of the cells, exposing them to the surrounding air. The increased pressure exerted by the oxygen on the surfaces of the cells causes them to differentiate into skin cells ... In this way, the researchers can grow numerous small pieces of skin, produced individually for each patient, which add up to a surface area of 10 to 100 square centimeters when pieced together. ... The researchers expect to grow skin grafts for 10 to 20 patients a month in 2008. ... At present, chronic wounds are treated by grafting on the patients' own skin, which is normally taken from the thigh. This leaves scars on both the thigh and the treated wound ... we can achieve the same chances of recovery without hurting the patient. Moreover, the artificial skin grows onto the wound without scarring."
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104140344.htm