Bioengineered Skin from a Platelet-Derived Hydrogel Repairs Full Thickness Wounds in a Pre-Clinical Mouse Model

Despite advancement in skin engineering, native skin grafting remains the gold standard in clinical settings. We have previously demonstrated that a platelet-derived hydrogel (PG) can act as a scaffold to engineer a semi-mature bilaminar human skin equivalent (PG-HSE). In this study, PG-HSE was grafted on full thickness wounds in athymic mice. PG-HSE was compared with native skin autografts and a clinically proven bilaminar skin graft that utilises a single layer NovoSorb® polyurethane biodegradable temporising matrix (plus plasma) as the scaffold (BTM-HSE). The graft analysis revealed PG-HSE-grafted wounds were fully epidermised in two weeks and the level of inflammatory markers, CXCl1, CXCl2, IL1β, and IL-6 transcripts, in grafts were at similar levels to their levels in autografts. This coincided with higher expression of COL1A2, COL3A1, and COL5A1 transcripts in PG-HSE grafts, compared to autografts and BTM-HSE grafts. Moreover, a higher deposition of both Col I and Col III was detected in the PG-HSE graft wound bed, when compared to the BTM-HSE graft wound bed. Conversely, BTM-HSE grafts showed a higher level of integrins, ITGA2, ITGA3, ITGA5, ITGA6, ITGAV, and ITGB1, at the RNA level, suggesting a stronger cell–scaffold interaction. In summary, we have shown although both PG and single layer BTM foam (plus plasma) are effective scaffolds for skin engineering, some key aspects of wound repair, including a reduction in inflammation and an increase in collagen deposition, are achieved with the platelet-derived hydrogel. The long-term effect of these scaffolds on wound scarring remains to be investigated.