Artificial dermal templates: A comparative study of NovoSorb™ Biodegradable Temporising Matrix (BTM) and Integra® Dermal Regeneration Template (DRT)

• A synthetic dermal template (NovoSorb BTM) was compared to Integra in a mouse model.
• NovoSorb was comparative to Integra in terms of wound closure.
• A greater inflammatory response was seen in NovoSorb grafts compared with Integra.
• Greater vascularisation of NovoSorb was observed compared with Integra ®.

BackgroundArtificial dermal templates play an important role in physiologic wound closure after injury. In addition to contributing to stable, durable and flexible wound closure, they provide a scaffold for tissue repair. Several dermal templates are commercially available, with animal-derived Integra® dermal regeneration template perhaps the most widely used. NovoSorb™ Biodegradable Temporising Matrix (BTM) is a fully synthetic alternative that eliminates any risk of cross-species residual antigenicity. In this study, we aimed to compare early response after application of NovoSorb™ BTM with Integra® in terms of temporary wound closure, host cell infiltration, neovascularisation and collagen deposition in a mouse model.MethodsTwenty athymic nude mice received full-thickness skin excision followed by grafting of the dermal template (n = 10 NovoSorb™ BTM, n = 10 Integra®), with the grafts excised and assessed after two weeks.ResultsAll twenty mice achieved temporary wound closure with no evidence of wound contracture. Microscopically, all twenty grafts became infiltrated with host cells along the entire length of the template, with NovoSorb™ BTM demonstrating a particular abundance of host inflammatory cells. Evidence of new collagen deposition and neovascularisation was observed in both templates, with NovoSorb™ BTM demonstrating a more extensive vascular network at this time point. However, a greater inflammatory response was also observed in the NovoSorb™ BTM grafts at this time point.ConclusionsIn this study, NovoSorb™ BTM demonstrates favourable properties as a dermal template, but further investigation is required to assess the significance of the differing inflammatory and vascular response to its implantation compared with Integra®.