In vitro evaluation of fibrin mat and Tegaderm™ wound dressing for the delivery of keratinocytes—Implications of their use to treat burns

Abstract The effectiveness of fibrin mat and Tegaderm™ delivery systems to maintain clonogenic keratinocytes in culture were evaluated using in vitro methods. A fibrin mat was found to provide a culture environment that is conducive for the proliferation of keratinocytes and supporting their ability to form colonies of good growth potential in vitro . This confirms that the fibrin mat is a good delivery system for cultured epithelial autograft (CEA). In our unit, fibrin-CEA is limited only for the treatment of severe burns due to the high cost of fibrin glue. However, this substrate is able to maintain the regenerative properties of the CEA which is crucial for the treatment of extensive and full thickness burns. Tegaderm™, a cost-effective polyurethane wound dressing is able to support keratinocyte cell growth but at a slower rate and with fewer colonies formed compared to the fibrin system. This suggests that Tegaderm™ can be an alternative approach of delivering autologous cells, limited to treat chronic wounds and less extensive burns. The use of simple and relatively inexpensive bench techniques can potentially serve as a quality control to check for keratinocytes cultured and delivered to every patient in the clinical setting.