Cell-Laden Gel Biomimetic Skin Promotes Full-Thickness Skin Wound Regeneration

TL;DR

A new biomimetic skin scaffold promotes scarless healing and regeneration of skin structures like hair follicles in full-thickness wounds.

Contribution

A multilayer composite scaffold combining decellularized amniotic membrane, fibroblast-laden collagen gel, and epidermal stem cells enables scarless regeneration of full-thickness skin.

Findings

AM-FCG-EpiSCs healed wounds faster and regenerated hair follicles without scarring.

The scaffold supports dynamic cell interactions and regulates the wound microenvironment.

This approach overcomes challenges in scar suppression and functional skin restoration.

Abstract

The regeneration and repair of scarless skin tissue remain a significant challenge for full-thickness wounds. Traditional wound management approaches, particularly passive healing through scabbing and conventional mechanical debridement, are frequently associated with significant pain, high infection risks, and abnormal scar formation, often failing to support the regeneration of skin appendages like hair follicles. In recent years, collagen-based scaffolds have been widely adopted in tissue-engineered skin substitutes owing to their favorable biocompatibility. However, their simplistic, single-component architecture inherently lacks the dynamic, cell-instructive microenvironment found in native skin, which not only compromises the long-term survival and functional integration of seeded cells but also directly leads to insufficient reconstruction of the dermo-epidermal junction, thereby impairing skin barrier function and ultimately limiting overall regenerative efficacy. In this study, we propose a biomimetic multilayer composite scaffold system in which decellularized amniotic membrane matrix (AM) is combined with fibroblast-laden collagen gel (FCG) and seeded with epidermal stem cells (EpiSCs). This bionic skin (denoted as AM-FCG-EpiSCs) is designed to achieve hierarchical regeneration of full-thickness skin defects. Compared with injured skin treated with Moropicin ointment, the injured skin treated with AM-FCG-EpiSCs healed more quickly and regenerated appendages like hair follicles without scarring. The results show that the biomimetic structure of AM-FCG-EpiSCs can mediate dynamic cell–cell interactions and regulate the microenvironment. This breakthrough overcomes the dual challenges of scar suppression and functional restoration in full-thickness skin regeneration, offering an innovative solution for translational medicine.

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