[Behavior on de-epidermized human skin of unspecified reconstituted collagen tissue]

The aim of our study was to assess the behaviour of a despecified collagen tissue laid on desepidermized human skin (taking area of skin graft). The collagen tissue was prepared according to Bell's method. The collagen was latticed, contracted by fibroblasts, chemically treated (formaldehyde or glutaraldehyde) to stabilize the fibrils and then despecified by cialit treatment. This tissue laid on superficial, non infected wounds very rapidly took a necrotic appearance and was totally lysed after 10 to 12 days without any modification of the healing course. No bacterial infection was observed. Histological and ultrastructural studies showed desorganization of collagen fibre bundles and tissue invasion by inflammatory cells. Circulating antibodies to collagen were absent at day 30. This model lacks interest as a substitute for superficial tissue replacement, but a healing function could be assigned to its high chemotactic power for polynuclears and macrophages and should allow its use in cases of deep tissue loss.