Development of a Portable Reflectance Confocal Microscope and Its Application in the Noninvasive In Vivo Evaluation of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Promoted Cutaneous Wound Healing

The study introduces a portable reflectance confocal microscope (PRCM) for noninvasive, real-time skin imaging, crucial for assessing wound healing. The PRCM, which is compact and handheld, offers a resolution of 0.91 µm and a field of view of 343 μm × 532 μm, effectively visualizing cellular and nuclear morphology in both mouse and human skin. It was used to evaluate wounds treated with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or saline, enabling the observation of collagen bundle formation, re-epithelization, and hair follicle regeneration, consistent with traditional histological methods. The findings indicate that PRCM is a promising tool for real-time wound healing monitoring, with potential clinical applications.