Wound-edge Inversion Results In The Reliable, Mechanical Formation Of Dystrophic Scars In Mice
Phoebe Lee, BS1, Shawn J. Loder, MD1, David Guerrero, BS1, Wayne Nerone, BS1, Kacey Marra, PhD1, J Peter Rubin, MD2, Lauren Kokai, PhD1.
1University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2University of Pittsburgh, PITTSBURGH, PA, USA.
BACKGROUND: The nature of murine healing makes it poorly suited to the study of dystrophic scars. Murine wounds contract, epithelialize, and ultimately heal rapidly with limited appearance of injury. This can be overcome in the circumstances of significant chemical, thermal, or ionizing injury, infection, or with the application of secondary tissue engraftment. Each of these requires extensive manipulation, risks unwanted morbidity, and clinical relevance is often limited to the specific insult being modelled. Here we describe the efficacy of a simple wound-edge inversion maneuver for generation of consistent and reliable dystrophic scars in mice.
METHODS: Male C57BL/6J wild-type mice received bilateral 6mm excisional wounds. Each wound was stratified as either untreated control or chronic model. Chronic wounds were generated by incising skin flaps, which were sutured to the dermis side to create a folded skin edge. Wounds were maintained until closure up to 63 days. Photographs were taken at time of sacrifice and samples were collected for H&E and Masson's Trichrome Stain
RESULTS: When allowed to proceed to maturation, scars from WEI injuries remained significantly larger (p<0.05). This was true in both control and diabetic models. All wound-edge inversion injuries demonstrated gross and histologic evidence of dystrophic healing and collagen deposition vs. their control counterparts
CONCLUSIONS: Wound-edge inversion resulting in delay of closure results in a consistent dystrophic scar without need for thermal, radiological, chemical or biological interference. This is a simple maneuver which enhances our ability to study and therapeutically intervene into the process of scar formation.
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