Accelerated healing with a mesh autograft/allodermal composite skin graft treated with silver nylon dressings with and without direct current in rats

Purpose: Evaluation of the healing and persistence of a meshed composite sk in graft applied without immunosuppression. Methods: The contraction of wounds grafted with 9:1 split-thickness autogra ft/1.5:1 allodermal mesh composite skin grafts (auto/allo MCSGs) was invest igated. No immunosuppressive agent was applied. Male ACI rats and female Le wis rats reciprocally served as allodermis graft donors and recipients. Aut ograft/dermal autograft and allograft/dermal allograft MCSGs were the contr ols. Results: At 3 months after grafting, when epithelized auto/allo MCSG wounds were measured by computerized morphometric analysis, the silver nylon (SN) dressing group displayed less contraction than the Vaseline (petroleum jel ly) dressing group (p < 0.003), and direct current treatment (SNDC) was mor e effective than SN (p < 0.005). The histologic structures of the hair foll icles appear to confine the rejection process to the allogeneic follicles o f the graft. The focal nature of the rejection process and the relatively l ow antigenicity of the dermal matrix allowed the survival of the allodermis layer. Although direct current significantly enhanced MCSG healing, SN and SNDC were not the immunosuppressive agents that were confirmed. Conclusion: This type of MCSG can heal without immunosuppressive treatment.