Experimental Treatment for Burn Victims in Field Hospitals.
Abstract
We have initiated a program to adapt an artificial skin, which we have previously used to treat over 55 severely burned patients, for use in field hospitals. During this contract we have succeeded in redesigning the original preparation procedure to produce a satisfactory Stage 1 artificial skin with apparently unlimited shelf life. Additional animal studies are needed to confirm the preliminary positive results. We have also developed specialized ultrastructural procedures and completed exploratory work which aims to convert the current donor-dependent process (Stage 2 artificial skin) into a donor-independent process by seeding our artificial skin membranes with specially selected heterologous epidermal cells instead of autologous cells. To this end we tested the hypothesis that a population of heterologous epidermal cells which has been depleted of Langerhans cells in our laboratory by use of a variety of procedures can yield a satisfactory donor-independent artificial skin without use of immunosuppression. Third, we demonstrated that the viability of epidermal cells persists following 6-month storage at -196C while preliminary results show that 7-day storage at -80 C preserves a fraction of the in vitro viability and a fraction of the skin grafting performance of epidermal cells. Fourth, we discovered a new procedure for controlling the ability of collagen fibers to aggregate platelets and we can fabricate either the well-known hemostatic collagens which clot blood efficiently or the novel collagens prepared in our laboratory which do not induce clotting.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA175643
Entities
People
- E. M. Skrabut
- Ioannis V. Yannas
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology