• 1 No.1 Department of Surgery, Tangxia Hospital of Dongguan, Dongguan Guangdong, 523721, P.R.China;;
  • 2Department of Burns, the FirstAffiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University.;
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【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the impact of dermal papillary cells on vascularization of tissue engineered skin
substitutes consisting of epidermal stem cells and allogeneic acellular dermal matrix. Methods Human foreskins from routine
circumcisions were collected to separate epidermal cells by using dispase with trypsogen. Collagen type IV was used to isolate
epidermal stem cells from the 2nd and 3rd passage keratinocytes. Dermal papilla was isolated by the digestion method of collagenase
I from fetus scalp and cultured in routine fibroblast medium. Tissue engineered skin substitutes were reconstructed by seeding
epidermal stem cells on the papillary side of allogeneic acellular dermis with (the experimental group) or without (the control
group) seeding dermal papillary cells on the reticular side. The two kinds of composite skin substitutes were employed to cover skin
defects (1 cm × 1 cm in size) on the back of the BALB/C-nu nude mice (n=30). The grafting survival rate was recorded 2 weeks after
grafting. HE staining and immunohistochemistry method were employed to determine the expression of CD31 and calculate the
microvessel density at 2 and 4 weeks after grafting. Results Those adhesion cells by collagen type IV coexpressed Keratin 19 and
β1 integrin, indicating that the cells were epidermal stem cells. The cultivated dermal papillary cells were identified by expressing
high levels of α-smooth muscle actin. The grafting survival rate was significantly higher in experimental group (28/30, 93.3%), than
that in control group (24/30, 80.0%). HE staining showed that the epithelial layer in experimental group was 12-layered with large
epithelial cells in the grafted composite skin, and that the epithelial layer in control group was 4-6-layered with small epithelial cells.
At 2 and 4 weeks after grafting, the microvessel density was (38.56 ± 2.49)/mm2 and (49.12 ± 2.39)/mm2 in experimental group and
was (25.16 ± 3.73)/mm2 and (36.26 ± 3.24)/mm2 in control group respectively, showing significant differences between 2 groups
(P  lt; 0.01). Conclusion Addition of dermal papillary cells to the tissue engineered skin substitutes can enhance vascularization,
which promotes epidermis formation and improves the grafting survival rate.

Citation: LIU Po,QI Shaohai,SHU Bin,XIE Julin,XU Yingbin,LIU Xusheng.. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON DERMAL PAPILLARY CELLS IMPROVING VASCULARIZATION OF TISSUEENGINEERED SKIN SUBSTITUTES. Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery, 2012, 26(2): 135-140. doi: Copy