Experimental study on the inflammatory and immune responses of xenogenic acellular dermal matrix transplantation combined with thin split-thickness skin autograft / 中华整形外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the dynamic process of the inflammatory response and the profile of Th1/Th2 cytokines after xenogenic acellular dermal matrix (ADM) transplantation with thin split-thickness skin autograft overlay.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>SD rats were used in the study. In the control group, thin split-thickness skin autograft (STSG) was transplanted in the full-thickness skin defect of the SD rats; in the experimental group, the xenogenic acellular dermal matrix combined with thin split-thickness skin autograft was transplanted. The inflammatory response was examined histologically and Th1/Th2 cytokine mRNA expression in skin grafts was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Inflammatory reaction was induced by ADM at the early stage of transplantation and decreased gradually. Th2 cytokine mRNA expression was higher in the ADM group than that of the control group whereas the Th1 cytokine mRNA expression was undetected in both groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Xenogenic acellular dermal matrix is immunogenic. The increased expression of Th2 cytokines may be related to the humoral immune responses and the absence of ADM graft rejection.</p>

An observation of the basement membrane remodeling after the combined grafting of xenogenic acellular dermal matrix with autoskin in rats / 中华烧伤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the dynamic process of basement membrane remodeling after the combined grafting of xenogenic acellular dermal matrix with autoskin.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The rat skin wounds were covered with xenogenic porcine acellular dermal matrix overlaid with razor thin autoskin. The skin samples were collected at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12 and 16 post-grafting weeks. The changes in laminin expression in the basement membrane and the ultrastructure of the basement membrane at 12 post-grafting weeks were observed by immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy. The results were compared with those in simple thin autoskin grafting as the control.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The laminin expression in the combined grafting was higher than that in control. At 12 post-grafting weeks, the basement membrane in combined grafting rats was clear and continuous and the hemidesmosome was relatively more in amount and distributed evenly. While in the autoskin group, the lamina densa in the basement membrane was blurred and discontinuous with a decrease in and uneven distribution of hemidesmosome.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The increased expression of laminin in the basement membrane in the combined grafting rats might be beneficial to the remodeling of the basement membrane and to strengthening the connection of epithelium to the dermis, thus wound healing quality would be improved.</p>