Abstract
The treatment of chronic burn wounds is difficult in clinical practice. The ideal therapy is required to be continuously explored. Mesenchymal stem cells revolutionize the treatment of many diseases. The placental mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs) have the characteristics of easy access, strong proliferation ability and multi-directional differentiation potential. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of PMSCs in chronic burn wound healing. In this study, species of bacteria of 317 patients with chronic burn wounds have been analyzed. Samples of chronic burn wound fluid were collected from representative patients and then co-cultured with cells. In vitro studies showed that chronic burn wound fluid inhibited the proliferation of human keratinocytes and fibroblasts, while PMSCs can counteract the effects of burn wound fluid on inhibiting the proliferation and migration of human keratinocytes and fibroblasts. In addition, in vivo studies showed that a rat chronic burn wound model was successfully created. The expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, MDA, IL-6 and TNF-α in chronic burn wounds was significantly higher than that in acute burn wounds. Finally, the rat chronic burn wound model was used to verify that placental mesenchymal stem cell transplantation increased the wound healing rate, decreased the wound healing time, and promoted wound healing by increasing the thickness of epidermis and promoting the expression of P63 and CK10. The findings provide support for the hypothesis that PMSCs promote the repair of chronic burn wounds and key scientific data for the application of PMSCs as a new method for treating chronic burn wounds.