Figure 3.

Assessment of burn duration impact on epidermal integrity in ex vivo cultured human skin explants. Hematoxylin phloxine saffron (HPS) staining was performed on human skin explants harvested at different time points post burn (10 min and days 7, 14, and 21). Burns were generated with a metal rod heated to 100 °C and applied for 1 s (upper panels), 5 s (middle panels) or 10 s (bottom panels). A 1 s burn impacted only the superficial layers of the epidermis, whereas 5 s and 10 s burns induced alterations of the whole epidermis. Under the three conditions tested, the burnt area was fully re-epithelialized on day 14. Images were taken in the center of the burn. Results obtained for each condition are representative of three series of experiments performed on skin explants derived from three donors. Scale bar: 100 µm.