The process of skin healing in experimentally wounded carp

The process of skin healing was studied in thin sections of adult mirror-carp, superficially wounded with a razor blade in a scaleless region. Shortly after wounding, epidermal cells from both sides of the wound moved towards the wound cavity. The cells moved as compact groups, without severing the normal intercellular desmosomes. The moving cells displayed phagocytotic activity of cellular debris during the migration. The phagosomes reacted with diaminobenzidine, revealing strong peroxidase content. The normally abundant pinocytotic vesicles from the basal layer of filament cells vanished during the first hour after wounding, and reappeared after 2 days; 24 h after wounding, desmosomes interconnected the filament cells from both sides of the wound. Due to profuse mucus secretion, the number of mucous cells from the epidermal stratum was markedly reduced. Rodlet cells appeared 1 h after wounding in the external region of the epidermis. There was pronounced increase in alkaline phosphatase content of the pavement cells 10 min after wounding; this enzyme appeared around the ridges of the pavement cells and inside the mucous cells 20 min later.
In the dermis, the region surrounding the wound was darkened, blood cells extravasated, and penetrated partially into the epidermis. After 2 days, dermal fibroblasts displayed intense phagocytosis; after 8 days they were particularly abundant in the region of regenerating tissue and were secreting large quantities of collagen. Marked changes in the relative frequency of the different types of leucocyte occurred during the post-wounding days.     

Hair follicle and interfollicular epidermal stem cells make varying contributions to wound regeneration

Upon wounding, multiple stem cell populations in the hair follicle (HF) and interfollicular epidermis (IFE) converge at the site of injury. Although these cells can contribute permanently to the regenerating epithelium, it remains unclear whether these contributions vary among cells originating from diverse compartments in the skin. By comparing the fates of several keratinocyte lineages, we observed here an initial decrease in both HF- and IFE-derived cells within the transient acanthotic layers of the regenerating epithelium. At the same time, the relative abundance of early-arriving IFE-derived cells specifically in the wound basal layer declined as later-arriving HF-derived cells entered the site of injury. Although laggard bulge-derived cells were typically constrained at the regenerative periphery, these cells persisted in the wound basal layer. Finally, suppressing Notch enabled IFE-derived cells to out-compete HF-derived cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that IFE-, HF- and bulge-derived cells make distinct contributions to regeneration over time. Furthermore, we speculate that extrinsic, non-genetic factors such as spatial constraint, distance from the wound, and basal versus suprabasal position may largely determine whether a cell ultimately persists.     

Stimulation of human vascular endothelial cell growth by a platelet-derived growth factor and thrombin

Repair of a vascular wound is mediated by migration and subsequent replication of the endothelial cells that form the inner lining of blood vessels. We have measured the growth response of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HuE) to two polypeptides that are transiently produced in high concentrations at the site of a wound; the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and the protease thrombin. When 10⁴ HuE cells are seeded as a dense island (2-mm diameter) in the center of a 16-mm tissue culture well in medium containing 20% human serum derived from platelet-poor plasma (PDS), no increase in cell number or colony size is observed. With the addition of 0.5 ng/ml partially purified PDGF, colony size increases and the number of cells after 8 days is 4.8 × 10⁴. When human thrombin (1 μg/ml) is added along with the PDGF, the cell number rises to 9.2 × 10⁴. Thrombin alone stimulates no increase in cell number. Although partially purified PDGF stimulates endothelial cells maintained in PDS as well as those maintained in whole blood serum (WBS), pure PDGF is active only when assayed in medium that contains WBS and is supplemented with thrombin. These results suggest the existence of a second class of platelet-derived factors that enable HuE cells to respond to the mitogenic activity of the purified platelet mitogen and thrombin.     

MiRNA 与皮肤伤口愈合

MiRNA是真核生物体内约由22个核苷酸组成的内源性非编码单链RNA,可调节基因转录。它通过其5’非翻译区(UTR)与目标mRNA的3’端非翻译区相结合,从而抑制后者的转录后翻译和降解,进而调节一系列生物学过程,包括生物体生长、发育和疾病等。研究表明,miRNA在干细胞分化、肿瘤形成、血管发生、内耳形成等过程中均发挥重要作用,已成为调节生物学过程的核心因子。伤口愈合是一个与多种类型细胞、细胞因子及细胞外基质相关的过程,它受机体多种因素紧密调控。伤口愈合过程一般被分为三个阶段:炎症反应期,肉芽生长期和组织重建期。已有大量证据证实miRNA在皮肤创伤愈合过程中发挥重要作用,并且miRNA在不同的愈合阶段发挥不同的作用。本文就miRNA在皮肤形态、胎儿无痕愈合及成人伤口愈合各环节中的作用做一综述。     

Transplantation with bone marrow stromal cells promotes wound healing under chemotherapy through altering phenotypes

Stem cell transplantation is a promising strategy for delayed wound healing caused by chemotherapy. However, the fate of stem cells under chemotherapy has not been fully elucidated. Herein we characterized human fetal bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) during wound healing in mice treated with cyclophosphamide (CTX). The isolated hBMSCs expressed the phenotype of CD11b(low)/CD14(low)/CD34(low)/CD45(low)/CD29(high)/CD44(high)/CD90(high)/CD105(high)/CD146(high)/STRO-1(low). Following in vitro exposure to CTX, hBMSCs showed decreased cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner, accompanied by increased expressions of collagen-I/III, and CD31. After transplantation, wounds closed as early as 8 days and were positive for α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), implicating the enhanced re-epithelialization and wound contraction. Moreover, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and CD31 showed co-localization with α-SMA, suggesting the differentiation of hBMSCs into epithelial cells and myofibroblasts/fibroblasts. Taken together, our results indicate hBMSCs can accelerate wound healing under chemotherapy through altering their phenotypes.