Equivalent effects of topically-delivered adipose-derived stem cells and dermal fibroblasts in the ischemic rabbit ear model for chronic wounds.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have garnered considerable attention in plastic surgery. Via proliferation/differentiation or the elaboration of paracrine factors, MSC and their adipose-derived stem cell counterparts (ADSC) have been suggested to stimulate cutaneous wound healing. Previous reports have been limited by a lack of appropriate controls and the lack of a clinically-relevant context or ability to extrapolate to human wound healing. Objectives The authors qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the ability of ADSC to improve wound healing in an ischemic variant of their well-established rabbit ear wound model. Methods To incorporate ischemia, a major pathophysiologic factor in human chronic wounds, into our model, two of the three main arteries to the rabbit ear were ligated before wounding. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled ADSC or rabbit dermal fibroblasts (RDF) were then applied to wounds and histologic parameters of healing quantified. Results At Postoperative Day (POD) 1, both cell types were present in a uniform distribution across wounds and positive for the proliferation marker Ki-67. By POD 7 and continuing through POD 10, ADSC and RDF contributed similarly to the accumulation of stratified "neogranulation" across the wound bed. No statistically-significant differences were observed between ADSC and RDF in terms of this positive effect on gran

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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