Abstract

Large cutaneous wounds pose a severe medical problem and may be deadly in cases when regeneration is impaired. Recently, topical stem cell therapy has been realized as a promising strategy for wound healing and skin regeneration. However, stem cells must be administrated uniformly to the wound area, otherwise treatment will be ineffective, which has been a limitation of current administration methods. Specifically, the delivery pressure and nozzle features of most clinical cell spray devices are unknown, which may significantly affect the viability of sprayed cells and their capacity for proliferation. Herein, we developed a novel pneumatically assisted atomization device (PAAD) in which cell suspensions were uniformly atomized at a low delivery pressure. We optimized the applied fluidic pressure and air pressure to maximize cell survival and function for the application of multiple cell types, while ensuring uniform dispersal across the wound site. Moreover, we found that the application of sprayed umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells to wound sites significantly accelerated wound healing and promoted appendage regeneration on an excisional cutaneous wound model. Overall, the novel PAAD system delivered living cells uniformly and maintained the viability and differentiation of sprayed cells, strongly suggesting its potential for application in clinical cell therapy, especially for large, irregular, and severe skin wounds.