Thursday, November 26, 2009

Medical stuff below the fold

Spray on skin for burn patients...using the patient's own skin.

Contained in the thin skin sample are basal stem cells and melanocytes, cells that give skin its particular colour and texture. The structural materials holding these cells in place are dissolved with trypsin, an enzyme harvested from pigs, and then sprayed back onto a burn site.

Once on the burned area, the skin stem cells and melanocytes begin to divide and expand. In less than a week that stamp-sized donor site of skin can turn into a page's worth of new, healthy skin, which matches the tone and texture of the original skin more closely than skin grafts usually do.

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