ISSN:
1524-475X
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Wound contraction is part of the normal process in tissue repair, although the contribution it makes to wound closure, compared with that of scar deposition, can vary in different types of wounds and in different subjects. The contributions of fibroblasts and myofibroblasts to the contraction process may also vary in different types of wound. In some instances it could be beneficial to slow down contraction and in others to accelerate it. We have investigated the effect of a number of agents, pharmacological or mechanical, on the contraction of fibroblast-populated collagen lattices. Minoxidil concentrations from 0.5 to 4 mM inhibited contraction of lattices by leg fibroblasts from a 74-year-old subject in a dose-dependent manner, whereas 0.5 mM had no effect on the contraction of lattices by neonatal foreskin fibroblasts. The inhibition was reversible when the minoxidil was replaced by normal medium after six days. Minoxidil also inhibited contraction by porcine wound fibroblasts as well as that by normal porcine skin. Minoxidil glucuronide, the major metabolite, had no effect on collagen contraction, but minoxidil sulphate inhibited contraction more strongly than minoxidil itself. Tamoxifen at 10–20 μM led to a dose-dependent reduction in contraction, while 1 to 5 μM tamoxifen had no effect and 50 or 100 μM produced complete inhibition. The reversibility of the inhibition was dose dependent and, for a given concentration, time-dependent. Eupolin, an aqueous extract from Chromolaena odorata, a plant licensed for the treatment of soft-tissue wounds in Vietnam, was shown to effect a dose dependent decrease in contraction at concentrations from 50–200 μg/ml. Intermittent radiant warming, as used in the clinic, accelerated the contraction of lattices by fibroblasts from 54-year- and 87-year-old subjects, maintained at an incubator temperature of 33.2 °C. Control cards set at 38 °C or 42 °C raised the temperature of the medium to maxima of 36.2 °C and 38.1 °C after 1 hour. Warming the lattices for three periods of 1 hour per day for one week led to significantly faster contraction and increased proliferation within the lattice.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1067-1927.2005.130117n.x
Permalink