Figure 2

Wounds created in adult human split thickness skin xenografts display evidence of re-epithelialization with human epidermis. (A) Split thickness xenograft model. (B) Split thickness xenografts were harvested from donor human skin and grafted onto 2 × 2 cm full thickness defects created on the backs of nude (Nu/Nu) mice (scale bar = 0.5 cm). (C) After 3 months, accepted hSTSG were then wounded with a 4 mm biopsy punch and treatments immediately applied then maintained by covering with a semi-permeable adherent dressing (Tegaderm) throughout the duration of wound healing (scale bar = 0.5 cm). (D) Immunohistochemistry of healed wounds confirmed presence of human epidermis through double staining for keratin 14 (K14) to generally identify keratinocytes and human nuclear antigen (hNA, arrows) to specifically identify human keratinocytes in the center of a healed wound. Dashed line indicates basal epithelial layer (scale bar = 50 µm). (E) Masson’s Trichrome stained uninjured xenograft demonstrating the fibrotic dermis that is typically associated with this model. Scale bar = 1 mm. Created with Biorender.com.