Regenerative therapies

Skin is by far the largest organ in the human body. Its surface ranges between 1.5 and 1.8 m² and the thickness varies between 0.5 (lower eyelid) and 15 mm (foot sole) in a young average adult, resulting in a tissue volume of 7500- 27,000 mm³. The wide range of tissue thickness already indicates that skin has to fulfi ll a variety of physiological organic tasks, including mechanistic, metabolic, energetic and immunologic aspects. Skin also is the fi rst organ which has been tissue engineered in vitro and translated back into clinical application. It is a prime target for regenerative therapies, not only due to its obvious easy clinical accessibility but also, because skin already is a continuously regenerating organ and therefore a fascinating model to learn more about the human body's intrinsic regenerative mechanisms. This book chapter focuses on the regenerative capacities of skin tissue and its comprising cell compartments and explains how the principles of skin regeneration may be translated into clinical practice.