Mesenchymal stem cells in skin wound healing

Abstract

The integrity of healthy skin plays a crucial role in maintaining physiological homeostasis of the human body. Chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus or peripheral vascular diseases can lead to impaired wound healing. Skin wound healing purposes focusing on the main phases of wound healing, i.e., inflammation, proliferation, epithelialization, angiogenesis, remodeling, and scarring. This is a complex process, which is dependent on many cell types and mediators interacting in a highly sophisticated temporal sequence. Although some interactions during the healing process are crucial, redundancy is high and other cells or mediators can adopt functions or signaling without major complications. Mesenchymal stem cells have an alternative role due to special properties such as the capacity for self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation, immunomodulatory effect, alleviation of inflammatory response, induction of angiogenesis, regulation of extracellular matrix remodeling, excellent migration and secretion of growth factors and cytokines in wound healing. We summarized current research on the mechanisms of mesenchymal stem cells with their isolation, specific markers, differentiation capacity, and the functional activities to evaluate wound healing application.