Effects of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on burn injury healing in a mouse model.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the feasibility and safety of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) transplantation on the improvement of burn wound healing. METHOD Human BM-MSCs were injected into the skin of the mouse models, and the new blood vessels growth, the engraftment of BM-MSCs and the speed of healing were observed. Moreover the body weight and activity were tested after BM-MSCs transplantation. RESULTS We found that wound surface healing was significantly accelerated when BM-MSCs were applied to the wound surface in mice. Moreover, both the number and density of new blood vessels were increased in the BM-MSC-treated group. The engraftment of BM-MSCs was also investigated using GFP-labeled cells and no GFP-positive cells were observed in tissues other than the location of BM-MSC injection. We also found that both body weight and activity were quickly restored in BM-MSC-treated mice, and no tumor growth was found. CONCLUSION The present results suggest that BM-MSC transplantation can effectively improve wound healing in a mouse model of burn injuries. Use of BM-MSCs might therefore facilitate development and improvement of burn injury treatments in future.