Timely covering for extensive wound is essential for the survival of the patient. Needless to emphasize, autologous skin of the patient is the best of choice for the coverage. However, it is almost impossible to have enough skin from patient who is suffering from extensive burn. Therefore various materials such as, porcine skin, human amniotic membrane, and artificail skin have been used to substitute the autologous akin. Nevertheless, none of the materials truely beneficial in prolong the life expectancy of the patients.
The use of cultured patient epithelial cells for the source of wound covering. and recently this has been tried in clinics and found to be a most favorable method to solve the fundamental problems involved include difficulties in preparing the cells, functional defects of the covered epitelium in various aspects.
Among those problems, successful explantation of freshly prepared skin in vitro system would be the major task to be studied. Therefore, in this experiment the general characteristics of freshly explanted human epithelial cells in vitro were studied.
The results are as follows ;
1. Epithelial cell multiplication from skin explants and epithelial cells ;
After cutting skin into fine mince(( ) 1 cu mm) and plating on plastics and collagen gels, the skin explants and epithelial cells settled to the surface and attached to it within 48∼72 hours. After attachment, epithelial cells migrated actively and colonies of several cells were gradually formed and epitelial cells appeared at the edge of the skin explants.
Epithelial cells multiplication and outgrowth from skin explants appeared actively to about 2 weeks, and it had been grown into monoepithelial cell layer. Growth rate of epithelial cells devreased after 2 weeks.
2. Difference of growth characteristics between newborn epithelial cell and older donor.;
Numbers of epithelial cell separated from skin explants during mincing, colony formation efficiency, plating efficiency, and epithelial cells growth rate in newborn was higher than older nonor.
3. Difference of growth characteristics between plastic surface and collagen gel.;
Colony formation efficiency and plating efficiency of epithelial cells on collagen gel was higher than its on plastic surface. but, no difference in epithelial cell growth rate was found.
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