Mutable Collagenous Tissue Isolated from Echinoderms Leads to the Production of a Dermal Template That Is Biocompatible and Effective for Wound Healing in Rats

The mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) of echinoderms possesses biological peculiarities that
facilitate native collagen extraction and employment for biomedical applications such as regenerative
purposes for the treatment of skin wounds. Strategies for skin regeneration have been developed and
dermal substitutes have been used to cover the lesion to facilitate cell proliferation, although very little
is known about the application of novel matrix obtained from marine collagen. From food waste we
isolated eco-friendly collagen, naturally enriched with glycosaminoglycans, to produce an innovative
marine-derived biomaterial assembled as a novel bi-layered skin substitute (Marine Collagen Dermal
Template or MCDT). The present work carried out a preliminary experimental in vivo comparative
analysis between the MCDT and Integra, one of the most widely used dermal templates for wound
management, in a rat model of full-thickness skin wounds. Clinical, histological, and molecular
evaluations showed that the MCDT might be a valuable tool in promoting and supporting skin
wound healing: it is biocompatible, as no adverse reactions were observed, along with stimulating
angiogenesis and the deposition of mature collagen. Therefore, the two dermal templates used in
this study displayed similar biocompatibility and outcome with focus on full-thickness skin wounds,
although a peculiar cellular behavior involving the angiogenesis process was observed for the MCDT.