New research suggests that wound healing could be enhanced by replicating platelet-rich plasma from our blood to create implants introduced into the wound.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a natural healing substance in our blood. Researchers explored ways of enhancing the wound healing process by extracting PRP from the blood of a patient with a complex skin wound and manipulating it through 3D printing to form an implant for tissue repair which can be used to treat difficult-to-heal skin wounds in a single surgical procedure.
The results, which are reported in Advanced Functional Materials, showed that application of the 3D-printed PRP implant helped to speed up the healing of the wound by enabling efficient vascularisation and inhibiting fibrosis, which are both essential for effective wound healing.
Professor Fergal O’Brien, at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences said: “Existing literature suggests that while the PRP already present in our blood helps to heal wounds, scarring can still occur. By 3D-printing PRP into a biomaterial scaffold, we can increase the formation of blood vessels while also avoiding the formation of scars, leading to more successful wound healing.
“As well as promising results for skin wound healing, this technology can potentially be used to regenerate different tissues, therefore dramatically influencing the ever-growing regenerative medicine, 3D printing and personalised medicine markets.”
Source: RCSI
