The properties of spider web can help the development of artificial skin useful for the treatment of burns, according to a study published in the journal PLoS One in its latest issue.
According to the authors, from the University of Hannover, in Germany, the advantage of this biomaterial is its resistance and that, in addition, it is biodegradable. The mechanism to be followed to apply it in regenerative medicine is to extract healthy cells from the skin of a patient, or a donor, and grow them on a mesh made from spider web. Then that skin is transplanted to the burned and the spider thread is absorbed by the body without toxicity problems appearing. When the fabric biodegrades only the implanted skin cells remain.
To test their invention, the researchers grew a layer of fibroblasts and then a layer of keratocytes for two weeks to form the two layers of the skin, dermis and epidermis.
This type of procedure has been tested with other materials such as silicone, polyester, polyglycol or fibrins. But in this case, the most important novelty is that the spider web is incorporated into the body and degrades over time.
