January 17, 2017.
A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (United States) have found a way to regenerate the skin before it heals.
Convert myofibroblasts into adipocytes
After a cut, an accident or a childbirth, the skin keeps a trace of the lesion, this is what is called a scar. Often unsightly, these scars could disappear very soon. In any case, this is what the American researchers promise, who explain that they have found a way to transform myofibroblasts (cells of scar tissue) into adipocytes (fat cells).
According to this work, published in the journal Science, it is because it does not contain fat cells or hair follicles that scar tissue leaves an imprint on the skin. If the skin managed to regenerate itself with fat cells, then there would be no more scars, the skin would become as smooth and soft as it was before the operation or accident. The hairs can even grow back at the site of the lesion, say the researchers.
Obtain skin regeneration rather than a scar
“We can manipulate wound healing so that it leads to skin regeneration rather than scarring,” said Prof. George Cotsarelis, of the University of Pennsylvania, in the journal Science Alert. ” The secret is to regenerate the hair follicles first. After that, the fat will regenerate itself in response to the signals from these follicles ”.
For the moment, this experiment could only be attempted on rodents and on human cells in vitro, but the researchers are hopeful that any scars will be able to disappear from the human body in the years to come. All thanks to a protein a protein, BMP (Bone Morphogenetic Protein), which converts myofibroblasts into adipocytes. This discovery would have interesting implications for aesthetic medicine but also dermatology.
Read also: How to treat a scar?
