Artificial extracellular matrix as dermal substitutes

Abstract

Dermal substitutes can be made using synthetic or biological materials, in which each type of material has its own unique properties for the construction of an ideal dermal substitute. This study aims to look into the possibility of artificial extracellular matrix (aECM) as dermal substitutes by observing human dermal fibroblasts’ behavior in aECM containing bioactive sequences derived from fibronectin, laminin and collagen-IV. Fibroblast cells were cultured and seeded in protein-coated 24-well cell culture plates. For attachment, seeded cells were immediately viewed under the Olympus X microscope, and images of randomly selected areas were captured every 15 min for 2 h. Attached cells were counted as a percentage of total number of cells. For migration, seeded cells were first incubated for 2 h, and then a time-lapse microscopy was done for 15 h. Cell trajectories were tracked using ImageJ. Results showed that cell behavior in terms of morphology, attachment and migration on the aECM proteins were comparable to that of native ECM proteins, demonstrating promise for aECM proteins to be used as dermal substitutes.