Congenital dermal sinus cutaneous abnormalities, infection, and neurological deficits. Congenital dermal sinus is a tract from the surface layer of the skin, through the deeper tissues into the cranial or spinal cavity. The skin findings of this tract can include: The stratified squamous epithelium of the congenital dermal sinus tract can extend to the spinal fascia of the dura mater or all the way to the spinal cord. Thus, the congenital dermal sinus forms a point of entry for infection, this can allow for the formation of an abscess. Infection can then travel up the spinal cord to result in meningitis, which can
Dermal equivalent be incorporated to model the inflammatory phase of wound healing. Dermal equivalent The dermal equivalent is an in vitro model of the dermal layer of skin. It is constructed by seeding dermal fibroblasts into a collagen gel. This gel may then be allowed to contract as a model of wound contraction. This collagen gel contraction assay may be used to screen for treatments which promote or inhibit contraction and thus affect the development of a scar. Other cell types may be incorporated into the dermal equivalent to increase the complexity of the model. For example, keratinocytes may be seeded on