The aim of this study was to provide a beneficial treatment effect of novel chitosan bio-polymeric material enriched with mesenchymal stem cell products derived from the canine adipose tissue (AT-MSC) on the artificial skin defect in a rabbit model. For the objectivity of the regeneration evaluation, we used histological analysis and a scoring system created by us, taking into account all the attributes of regeneration, such as inflammatory reaction, necrosis, granulation, formation of individual skin layers and hair follicles. We observed an acceleration and improvement in the healing of an artificially created skin defect after eight and ten weeks in comparison with negative control (spontaneous healing without biomaterial). Moreover, we were able to described hair follicles and epidermis layer in histological skin samples treated with a chitosan-based biomaterial on the eighth week after grafting.

Herein we report the first occurrence of Ixodes ariadnae in Slovakia. One engorged female was collected from a greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) in the spring of 2025. Identification of the collected I. ariadnae specimen was based on morphological characters and confirmed by sequencing COI genes and mitochondrial 16S rDNA. Sequences showed > 99–100% similarity to specimens collected in other European countries. This expands the known range of I. ariadnae and calls for the further investigation into its host associations, prevalence, and potential role in tick-borne pathogen transmission among European bats.