Skin regeneration with all accessory organs following ablation with irreversible electroporation

Alexander Golberg*, Martin Villiger, G. Felix Broelsch, Kyle P. Quinn, Hassan Albadawi, Saiqa Khan, Michael T. Watkins, Irene Georgakoudi, William G. Austen, Marianna Bei, Brett E. Bouma, Martin C. Mihm, Martin L. Yarmush

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Skin scar formation is a complex process that results in the formation of dense extracellular matrix (ECM) without normal skin appendages such as hair and glands. The absence of a scarless healing model in adult mammals prevents the development of successful therapies. We show that irreversible electroporation of skin drives its regeneration with all accessory organs in normal adult rats. Pulsed electric fields at 500 V, with 70 μs pulse duration and 1000 pulses delivered at 3 Hz, applied through two electrodes separated by 2 mm lead to massive cell death. However, the ECM architecture of the skin was preserved. Six months after the ablation, the epidermis, sebaceous glands, panniculus carnosus, hair follicles, microvasculature and arrector pili muscle were altogether re-formed in the entire ablated area. These results suggest a key role of the ECM architecture in the differentiation, migration and signalling of cells during scarless wound healing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)98-113
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018

Funding

FundersFunder number
Bionational USA-Israel Science Foundation2015286
Center for Systems Biology/Program
National Institutes of HealthP41 EB015903
U.S. Department of Defense
National Cancer InstituteNIH 5 P30 CA06516
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesP30DK043351
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Air Force Office of Scientific ResearchFA9550-13-1-0068
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Boston Area Diabetes Endocrinology Research CenterDK57521

    Keywords

    • electroporation
    • extracellular matrix
    • pulsed electric field
    • regeneration
    • scar
    • scarless
    • skin

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