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Updated: Aug 21, 2025
Apparatus for Harvesting Tissue Microcolumns
Published on: October 25, 2018
The Epidermal Barrier Structure and Function of Re-Harvested Skin from Non-Scalp Donor Sites
Bohan Zhang1,2, Peng Luo1,2, Jiachen Sun1
1Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, The Fourth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to explore the epidermal barrier structure and function of re-harvested skin from non-scalp donor sites.
Methods:
Six patients with large-area deep burns who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were subjected to split-thickness skin excision three times on the same healthy non-scalp donor sites, with an interval of 14 days. The donor skin thus harvested was labeled as primary skin (S1), secondary skin (S2), and tertiary skin (S3). The transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and stratum corneum water content (SCH) of donor skin were detected before each surgery, and the donor skin was harvested during the surgery. The donor skin was stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and involucrin, loricrin, filaggrin, small molecule proline-rich protein 3 (SPRR3), ZO-3, JAM-A, and JAM-C, or observed by transmission electron microscopy.
Results:
The epidermal barrier function of the re-harvested skin from the non-scalp donor sites became impaired. The histopathological structure of the re-harvested skin from non-scalp donor sites became abnormal. The barrier of the epidermal stratum corneum of the re-harvested skin from non-scalp donor sites was damaged. The epidermal tight junction barrier in the re-harvested skin from non-scalp donor sites was damaged.
Conclusions:
As the number of harvesting increases, the epidermal barrier function of the skin decreased, and the damage to the barrier structure increased. Hence, it is vitally important to restore the epidermal barrier function for re-harvesting in non-scalp donor sites.
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