Mechanically isolated stromal vascular fraction improves healing of deep-partial thickness burn in rat model

Background: Despite the advances in treating burn injuries, burn severity remains one of the most challenging cases to be treated. As technologies advances, regenerative therapies using stem cells have been established and found to be effective and friendly as a regenerative tool. Stromal vascular fraction (SVF), extracted from adipose tissue, has a great potential for multipotent mesenchymal stem cells differentiation. Recent research has determined the therapeutic effects of SVF on burn injury. Previous finding has proved the efficacy of using SVF that is isolated enzymatically. This research aimed to examine the efficacy of allogenic mechanically isolated (MI) SVF in treating deep partial-thickness burns in a Wistar rat. Materials and Methods: After burn induction, 45 rats were divided into three groups of 15 as follows: group one (control, treated with phosphate-buffered saline), group two (treated with silver sulfadiazine (SSD), and group three (injected with SVF). SVF was harvested from the inguinal fat pad of six rats and mechanically processed. All injections were administered intradermally at the four edges of the burn to cover the entire wound bed. Morphological and histopathological analyses were performed for all groups at three different time points (4, 8, and 32 d post-treatment). Results: Treatment with MI SVF significantly reduced edema formation and dryness of the wound bed on day one compared to the control (P = 0.001). Histopathological results showed that SVF significantly reduced inflammation compared to the control (P = 0.045) on day one and increased neovascularization on day 8 (P = 0.016). Epithelial thickness was significantly greater in the SVF group compared to the SSD group (P = 0.034). Conclusions: The results of this study indicated the therapeutic potential of MI SVF on deep-partial-thickness burns by increasing neovascularization and epithelial thickness and reducing inflammation.