Abstract
BACKGROUND: The study of effectiveness of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) in treating burn wounds is still a developing field. The process of wound contraction in areas of loose skin is a major confounding factor in the evaluation and study of burn wound healing in animal models. METHODS: To evaluate the effect of local ASCs administration, deep partial thickness burn wounds were induced by 30 s application of hot copper plates in a novel skin island burn wound rat model to avoid interference from primary wound contraction. Skin islands were divided into two treatment groups-control group (n = 9) injected with PBS and ASCs-treated group (n = 9) injected with 5 × 10 ASCs intradermally. Progress in wound healing was checked at regular intervals after injury (on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th week) by measuring the mean wound area and analyzing the wound histologically and immunohistochemically, after unstitching the overlaying skin to expose the skin island. RESULTS: It was found that local intradermal injection of ASCs improved burn wound healing at all given time points when compared with control groups, especially in the first 2 weeks (p < 0.05). The percentage of live follicles increased gradually in the ASCs-treated groups compared with control groups between the 3rd and 4th weeks (p < 0.05). The vascular density and proliferating cell nuclear antigen index were also significantly increased in the ASCs-treated groups. CONCLUSION: Thus, in this study, a novel burn wound rat model with reduced interference from wound contraction has been put forth to investigate the therapeutic effects of local administration of ASCs on burn wound healing. Local injection of ASCs not only improved burn wound recovery but also enhanced angiogenesis and skin appendage regeneration.