Table 1.

Various Sources of Stem Cells and Their Characteristics in Burn Wound Healing

Source	Wound Healing Mechanism	Advantages
Hair follicle stem cells (HFSC)	● Generate stratified epidermis, hair follicle cells and keratinocytes	Easily accessible
Embryonic stem cells (ESC)	● Enhance re-epithelialization, cell proliferation and vascularization	Generate all three germ layers. Disadvantage: Ethically controversial
Umbilical cord stem cells (USC)	● Have endothelial progenitor cells, hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells ● Differentiate into epithelium in vivo and in vitro ● Reduce inflammation ● Immunomodulatory	Non-controversial
Bone marrow-derived stem cells (BM-MSC)	● Increases collagen production and reduces scar formation ● Decrease MMP production	High rate of proliferation and differentiation. Disadvantage: Low yield
Adipose tissue -derived stem cells (AD-MSC)	● Promote angiogenesis ● Immunomodulatory ● Reduces scar formation	High yield and easily obtainable, can be isolated from discarded burned skin
Burn-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BD-MSC)	● No tumorigenicity ● Promote re-epithelialization ● Reduce granulation ● Function unaffected by thermal damage	Safe source