Electroporation in Scars/Wound Healing and Skin Response

Abstract

Wounds are an essential part of the life cycle of organisms due to their interaction with environment, which can sometimes be very harsh. Although wound healing has puzzled humanity from early days and has gradually emerged from art and witchcraft to modern medical procedures, the detailed mechanisms underlying what results in normal and abnormal wound healing are not well established. This gap in knowledge exists because of the tremendous complexity of the overall wound-healing process. Despite this gap in our understanding of detailed mechanisms, new methods to treat wounds continue to appear, bringing promising new solutions to patients suffering from acute or chronic wounds. Because of its specific action on cell membrane without extensive heating and with no observed effects on the extracellular matrix, electroporation found application in multiple aspects of treating wounds. In this chapter, the authors explain the basics of what the wounds are and what is known about wound-healing process. The use of electroporation-based technologies for various applications for treating wounds, wound disinfection, gene electrotransfer for the treatment of diabetic chronic wounds, and electrostimulation of wound healing, is discussed in this chapter. In addition, the skin response to electroporation, especially with emerging applications of electroporation in skin rejuvenation and scars and keloid treatments, is discussed.