Development and Assessment of Non-Infected and Infected Skin Models Using MALDI-MSI

Infections are known to have a detrimental effect on wound healing leading to chronic would formation. Chronic wounds are becoming a  burden for western societies due to increased incidences of obesity, diabetes and ageing populations. This health crisis has a vast effect on wound care management resources and budgets worldwide. Effective diagnosis and wound management has been shown to reduce costs  and chronic wound formation. Therefore it is vital to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the wound healing process. Labskin is a human living skin equivalent model (LSE), which when used in combination with Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) is able to assess biological changes within non-infected and infected wounds to identify biomarkers associated with wound healing. Here we report the development of a novel incision method for wounding LSE: infection of these wounds and their study by MALDI-MSI.