A sticky substance naturally secreted by the marine animal is one element of a glue that closes skin wounds seamlessly in rats.
The glue could be used to prevent unsightly scars after accidental cuts or surgical operations.
Instead of re-forming in their original and neat basket-weave arrangement, the collagen fibres grow back in parallel bundles that create the characteristic lumpy appearance of scars.
But because decorin has a highly complex physical structure it is hard to synthesise and therefore not used in the clinic.
They combined a small section of the decorin protein with a collagen-binding molecule and a sticky substance secreted by mussels.
The new skin had also developed hair follicles, blood vessels, oil glands and other structures that aren’t regenerated in scars.
Other groups are applying embryonic stem cells to wounds, based on the observation that skin abrasions in embryos and early fetuses don’t scar. »
