Figure 2
Microscopic evidence and quantification of burn injury (300 °C, 15 s). An H&E stained section of a burned skin tissue (burned, non-debrided, non-infected, no neutrophil supplementation) fixed one day post-burn wound induction ((a); N = 3, n = 6, representative image is shown). Cell nuclei are stained dark blue while extracellular structures are pink. Red dotted line shows the border of the burn wound as used to calculate the area of damage and the red arrow indicates the depth of the burn. Disrupted collagen structure within the burn wound (b) can be compared to the normal collagen structure of the lower dermis (c). Presence of immune cells is indicated by arrows in the upper dermis (d) and within glands in the subdermal tissue (e). Three different operators burned single skin tissue pieces ((f,g); operator 1: N = 3, operator 2: N = 2, operator 3: N = 6; black filled square, open circle etc.: each symbol represents one skin tissue piece). Multiple sections were quantified by various analyzers (operator 1: n = 13, operator 2: n = 7, operator 3: n = 12). Quantification of wound area and depth by various operators is similar as all single dots per skin sample cluster together. Burn wound induction by various operators is well reproducible as indicated by wound area (f) and depth (g), although there is a slightly larger wound area induced by operator 2. N = number of skin tissue pieces, n = number of technical replicates (skin tissue sections), One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test, asterisk represents significant difference between operators, *p < 0.05.
