Regeneration of Skin Appendages and Nerves: Current Status and Further Challenges

Overview

Journal J Transl Med

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
General Medicine

Date 2020 Feb 5

PMID 32014004

Citations 50

Authors

Tingting Weng

Pan Wu

Wei Zhang

Yurong Zheng

Qiong Li

Ronghua Jin

Haojiao Chen

Chuangang You

Songxue Guo

Chunmao Han

Xingang Wang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Tissue-engineered skin (TES), as an analogue of native skin, is promising for wound repair and regeneration. However, a major drawback of TES products is a lack of skin appendages and nerves to enhance skin healing, structural integrity and skin vitality. Skin appendages and nerves are important constituents for fully functional skin. To date, many studies have yielded remarkable results in the field of skin appendages reconstruction and nerve regeneration. However, patients often complain about a loss of skin sensation and even cutaneous chronic pain. Restoration of pain, temperature, and touch perceptions should now be a major challenge to solve in order to improve patients' quality of life. Current strategies to create skin appendages and sensory nerve regeneration are mainly based on different types of seeding cells, scaffold materials, bioactive factors and involved signaling pathways. This article provides a comprehensive overview of different strategies for, and advances in, skin appendages and sensory nerve regeneration, which is an important issue in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

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