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Artificial Skin

Artificial Skin. BME 181 Josh Powers. Human Skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body Total area of approximately 20 square feet (depending) Provides protection against microbes and the elements Helps to regulate body temperature Allows sensations (touch, hot/cold). Anatomy.

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Artificial Skin

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  1. Artificial Skin BME 181 Josh Powers

  2. Human Skin • The skin is the largest organ of the body • Total area of approximately 20 square feet (depending) • Provides protection against microbes and the elements • Helps to regulate body temperature • Allows sensations (touch, hot/cold)

  3. Anatomy • Skin has three layers: • The epidermis: this is the outermost layer of skin, the portion we observe with the human eye. • Waterproof • Provides skin tone • The dermis: this is the portion located beneath the epidermis. • contains tough connective tissue and hair follicles • Contains sweat glands. • The hypodermis: this is the deeper subcutaneous tissue • made of fat and connective tissue.

  4. Statistics (The following annual estimates have been derived from statistics provided by the U.S. Vital Statistics) With numbers of hospitalized burn victims per year steadily rising, recognition of the special needs of burn patients is growing. Continuing advances in biomedical engineering seek to help these victims. Fire and Burn Deaths Per Year: 3,500 Burn Injuries Receiving Medical Treatment: 450,000 Hospitalizations for Burn Injury: 45,000

  5. Today’s Methods… • A severe burn leaves the body dangerously vulnerable to infection. • Doctors keep burn victims in germ free rooms, in attempt to protect against this infection. • The affected areas on the victim are covered with grafts. • These grafts are usually a piece of skin taken from another area of the patient’s body. In some instances, grafts are taken from other humans, and can even be taken from pigs.

  6. Effective, However… Although today’s methods are effective, many burn patients still die due to the fact that their bodies are unable to produce the quantity of skin needed, or because they reject the graft they received.

  7. Creating an “Artificial Skin” • Experimentation with artificial skin began in the early 60s • Most of the prototypes developed during this time were rendered useless, as they did not meet the requirements of human skin; including: • Flexibility • Protection • Hydration • Dr. John F. Burke, a professor at Harvard Medical School, began wrestling with ways to overcome these obstacles. • Dr. Burke needed a material that was flexible, protected against infection and dehydration, and could be made from ordinary substances, that would not be rejected by a patient’s immune system.

  8. The First Successful Artificial Skin • The first synthetic skin was invented by John Burke and Ioannis Yannas. • Burke had treated many burn victims and realized that there was a need for a human skin replacement. • Yannas had been studying collagen (a protein found in human skin). • Teaming up during the 1970s, the two made a polymer (a chemical compound made of multiple repeating units) that solved the quest for artificial skin.

  9. Silastic The Yannas-Burke team announced its first successful experiments with the skin in 1981, having used it on 10 severely burned patients, including a woman who had been burned over more than 50 percent of her body.

  10. What Makes Up Silastic The top layer of Silastic is composed of a thin silicone sheet that protects the victim from infection and dehydration. The bottom layer was a kind of scaffolding made from the molecular material in cow tendons and shark cartilage. It acted as a seed bed for healthy skin cells taken from other parts of the patient’s body. Polymers are compounds with repeating molecular structures. They can either be synthetic or natural. The artificial skin developed by Burke and Yannas had two layers of polymers- one layer synthetic, the other organic.

  11. How Silastic Works • Approximately one month after the Silastic is in place, healthy skin cells begin grew into the scaffolding. • After new skin cells have begun to form, the cow and shark cells are absorbed by the body. • After the silicone layer is peeled off with tweezers, the area that had been severely burned has healed at an incredibly healthy rate!

  12. Works Cited • http://www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/Apg-Ban/Artificial-Skin.html#b • http://www.ameriburn.org/resources_factsheet.php • www.scripps.org • www.umm.edu • http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/us/dr-john-f-burke-dies-at-89-created-synthetic-skin.html?_r=0 • http://www.burnsurvivor.com/skin_substitutes.html

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