A new dextran hydrogel has been found to rapidly and completely heal severe burn wounds within a few weeks, leaving minimal scarring.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that dextran hydrogel heals severe burn wounds faster than other hydrogels and with minimal scarring. The study involved treating the skin of severely burnt mice. After seven days, there was significant blood flow and increased neovascularisation to the burn sites compared with the controls. After five weeks, skin was thick and included sebaceous glands and hair follicles, and looked like healthy mouse skin.

The faster the hydrogel can heal the wound, the less inflammation and degradation of the skin. Although the dextran gel is not fully understood or tested, it includes no biological or drug components and therefore could be tested, approved and reproduced quite quickly.

'Our goal was to induce the growth of functional new blood vessels within the hydrogel to treat wounds and ischemic disease, which reduces blood flow to organs like the heart,' said Guoming Sun, Maryland Stem Cell Research Postdoctoral Fellow. 'With further fine-tuning of these kinds of biomaterial frameworks, we may restore normal skin structures for other injuries such as skin ulcers.'

Click here to see the study.

Image: Gel. Credit: just_a_name_thingie on Flickr.