Artificial skin: An overview

CHENGUANG^*
*Correspondence: CHENGUANG, Department of Artificial skin, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, China, Tel: +4411732 86549, Email:

Artificial skin may be a collagen scaffold that induces regeneration of skin in mammals like humans. The term was utilized in the late 1970s and early 1980s to explain a replacement treatment for enormous burns. It had been later discovered that treatment of deep skin wounds in adult animals and humans with this scaffold induces regeneration of the dermis. It's been developed commercially under the name IntegraTM and is employed in massively burned patients, during cosmetic surgery of the skin, and in treatment of chronic skin wounds.

Alternatively, the term “artificial skin” sometimes is employed to ask skin-like tissue grown during a laboratory, although this technology remains quite way far away from being viable to be used within the medical field. 'Artificial skin' also can ask flexible semiconductor materials which will sense touch for those with prosthetic limbs

Regenerated skin:

Discovery and clinical use

A process for inducing regeneration in skin was invented by Dr. Ioannis V. Yannas (then an professor within the Fibers and Polymers Division, Department of engineering, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Dr. John F. Burke (then chief of staff at Shriners Burns Institute in Boston, Massachusetts). Their initial objective was to get a wound cover that might protect severe skin wounds from infection by accelerating wound closure. Several sorts of grafts made from synthetic and natural polymers were prepared and tested during a guinea pig animal model. By the late 1970s it had been evident that the first objective wasn't reached. Instead, these experimental grafts typically didn't affect the speed of wound closure. In one case, however, a specific sort of collagen graft led to significant delay of wound closure. Careful study of histology samples revealed that grafts that delayed wound closure induced the synthesis of latest dermis de novo at the injury site, rather than forming scar, which is that the normal outcome of the spontaneous wound healing response. This was the primary demonstration of regeneration of a tissue (dermis) that doesn't regenerate by itself within the adult mammal.

Further research

Research is continually being done on covering. Newer technologies, like an autologous spray-on skin produced by Avita Medical, are being tested in efforts to accelerate healing and minimize scarring. The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology is functioning towards a totally automated process for producing covering. Their goal may be a simple two-layer skin without blood vessels which will be wont to study how skin interacts with consumer products, like creams and medicines. They hope to eventually produce more complex skin which will be utilized in transplants

Synthetic skin

Another sort of “artificial skin” has been created out of flexible semiconductor materials which will sense touch for those with prosthetic limbs. The synthetic skin is anticipated to reinforce robotics in conducting rudimentary jobs that might be considered delicate and need sensitive “touch”. Scientists found that by applying a layer of rubber with two parallel electrodes that stored electrical charges inside the synthetic skin, tiny amounts of pressure might be detected. When pressure is exerted, the electrical charge within the rubber is modified and therefore the change is detected by the electrodes. However, the film is so small that when pressure is applied to the skin, the molecules have nowhere to maneuver and become entangled. The molecules also fail to return to their original shape when the pressure is removed. A recent development within the synthetic skin technique has been made by imparting the colour changing properties to the skinny layer of silicon with the assistance of artificial ridges which reflect a really specific wavelength of sunshine. By tuning the spaces between these ridges, color to be reflected by the skin are often controlled. This technology are often utilized in colorshifting camouflages and sensors which will detect otherwise imperceptible defects in buildings, bridges, and aircraft.