The Changed Face of Skin Grafts
For many years, scientists have been harnessing the regenerative capabilities of human skin to treat victims of severe burns using skin transplants. Skin transplants are possible because of the existence of stem cells located just under the top layer of skin. Every day, thousands of new skin cells are produced to replace those that have been shed. When someone suffers severe burns that destroy the source of these stem cells, their skin can no longer regenerate on its own.
Traditionally, doctors treated severe burns by transplanting sections of skin from undamaged areas of the body onto the burned areas, but if doctors could not find enough unharmed skin to cover the burned areas, the patient could die. Now, scientists can grow vast sheets of new skin by culturing the stem cells from small pieces of healthy skin. This practice, which is a type of tissue engineering, has become routine for treating burn victims over the past 20 years.
Recently, scientists have identified other types of stem cells in hair follicles and deeper layers of the skin. The inclusion of these new stem cells into engineered skin should help create more natural-looking skin transplants in the future.