Efficacy of stromal vascular fraction and enzyme-free mechanical isolation therapy in experimental full thickness burn wounds

Abstract

Background

Autologous cell suspensions obtained by a stromal vascular fraction (SVF) and enzyme-free mechanical isolation (EMI) are an alternative in the treatment of burn wounds. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of autologous cell suspensions obtained by SVF and EMI on full-thickness skin burn wounds.

Methods

A total of 45 male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into three groups, SVF group, EMI group, and SVF + EMI group. The groups were also classified as the first, second, and third week of the burn to reveal the effect of the treatment on the burn in the early, middle, and late stages. For treatment, 0.2 ml SVF or 0.2 ml EMI was injected subcutaneously into the burn lesions of the subjects. Histopathological examination was performed on the burn wounds taken at the end of the experiment, and Ki67, CD44, CD73, CD90, and CK17 expressions were evaluated.

Results

Histological examination revealed that there was no improvement in the control samples, but the skin was multicellular, vascularization was present. Histologic scores in all groups was significantly better than control, and SVF + EMI was the best group in terms of recovery (p < 0.05). Ki67, CK17, CD44, CD73, and CD90 expressions were significantly higher in the treatment groups compared to the control (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

We found in our study that both applications significantly increased the healing of the burn wound. Moreover, SVF + EMI application provided more improvement than SVF or EMI alone.

Keywords:

• Burn wound
• stromal vascular fraction
• enzyme-free mechanical isolation
• rat
• immunohistochemistry

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Enes Akyuz, PhD. for his assistance during the revision phase. There are no conflicts of interest in connection with this paper and the study did not use any sources of financial assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of the University of Health Sciences in Istanbul. Project number BAP-2019/04-madde-2.