Tissue-engineered skin substitutes

The development of tissue engineered skin substitutes has reached a mature stage; major remaining questions relate to areas of greatest potential utility. Research is mainly concerned with extending indications of existing products, including treatment of the full range of acute, chronic, surgical and cosmetic wounds, and in other applications such as soft tissue augmentation and gene delivery. Among the few advances in the composition of skin substitutes is the inclusion of endothelial cells to provide a pathway for vascularisation by the host system.