Toward a skin-material interface with vacuum-integrated capped macroporous scaffolds

• Published in: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials Vol. 105; no. 5; pp. 1307 - 1318
• Main Authors: Stynes, Gil D, Kiroff, George K, Morrison, Wayne A, Page, Richard S, Kirkland, Mark A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.07.2017
• Subjects: Animals; Apposition; Attachment; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Blood vessels; Capping; Collagen; Collagen Type IV - metabolism; Defects; Epidermis; Epidermis - metabolism; Epidermis - pathology; Failure; Female; Implants, Experimental; Infections; Materials research; Materials science; Medical devices; Medical equipment; Pigs; Porosity; Pressure; Prostheses; Prosthetics; Reconstruction; Robotic surgery; Robotics; Robustness; Scaffolds; Skin; Surgical implants; Swine; Tissue Scaffolds; Toruses; Vacuum; Wounds; scaffolds; percutaneous; cell-material interactions; implant design; implant interface
• ISSN: 1552-4973; 1552-4981
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.33649

Avulsion, epidermal marsupialization, and infection cause failure at the skin-material interface. A robust interface would permit implantable robotics, prosthetics, and other medical devices; reconstruction of surgical defects, and long-term access to blood vessels and body cavities. Torus-shaped cap-scaffold structures were designed to work in conjunction with negative pressure to address the three causes of failure. Six wounds were made on the backs of each of four 3-month old pigs. Four unmodified (no caps) scaffolds were implanted along with 20 cap-scaffolds. Collagen type 4 was attached to 21 implants. Negative pressure then was applied. Structures were explanted and assessed histologically at day 7 and day 28. At day 28, there was close tissue apposition to scaffolds, without detectable reactions from defensive or interfering cells. Three cap-scaffolds explanted at day 28 showed likely attachment of epidermis to the cap or cap-scaffold junction, without deeper marsupialization. The combination of toric-shaped cap-scaffolds with negative pressure appears to be an intrinsically biocompatible system, enabling a robust skin-material interface. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1307-1318, 2017.