Artificial skin 'cuts scarring'

A prototype artificial skin used to heal wounds has been developed by British researchers.Writing in the journal Regenerative Medicine, UK-based company Intercytex said it had produced promising results in early trials.It said the skin seemed to incorporate itself much better with real tissue than any other skin substitutes tried in the past.The researchers hope it might provide an alternative to skin grafts.Currently the best way of treating serious burns and large wounds is to take skin from part of a patient's body and graft it on to the damaged area.
But this is not ideal, and there have been attempts to create a form of artificial skin.However, some doctors say that the failure of these to fully integrate with the wound have rendered these efforts of limited value. Intercytex believes its latest version weaves into wounds much better. The skin is created from a matrix made up of fibrin, a protein found in healing wounds.To this is added human fibroblasts-cells used by the body to synthesise new tissue.In a process that effectively replicates the way the body makes new skin, the cells produce and release another protein, collagen, which makes the matrix more stable.It is in this form that the "skin" is implanted into a wound.The researchers say that because the matrix is in a stable form, it is more able to withstand changes that take place during the healing process.The fact that the collagen is synthesised directly by the cells themselves also more closely mirrors the natural healing process.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6236282.stm
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