Ms. Qi Qin, MHS, RN Ph.D. student in Department of Gerontological Nursing/Wound Care Management
Wound bed cells interact dynamically with their microenvironment, responding to cues in wound fluid. Wound fluid contains proteins, immune cells, keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and many functional cells. Despite well-studied protein biomarkers, collecting cells in wound fluid remains challenging and receives little attention. We established a new method to collect viable nonadherent and adherent cells from wound dressings without altering gene expression. The established cell collection method can be used for gene expression and cellular analyses with greater potential. Especially the possibility of harvesting viable cells enables high-resolution gene expression analysis by scRNA-sequencing. Additionally, the inclusion of this cellular analysis method, along with other wound fluid collection techniques for protein and microbiome analyses, is expected to provide further insight into the wound microenvironment in the future.
Access the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/exd.14857