• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.576-584
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The shape and location, the amount of the wound and the characteristics of the remaining tissues are known to influence wound contraction. The previous studies using small animals have not been an appropriate model because the wound healing mechanisms and skin structures are different from those of the human. The purpose of this study is to evaluate wound contraction according to the shape and location of the wound using a $Micropig^{(R)}$. Methods: Four $Micropigs^{(R)}$ (Medikinetics, Pyeongtaek, Korea) that were 10 months of age weighed 25 kg were used. Full thickness skin defects were made by clearing all the tissues above the fascial layer in the shape of square, a regular triangle and a circle of 9 $cm^2$ each on the back around the spine. Eight wounds were created on the back of each pig, 50 mm apart from each other. The randomly chosen wound shapes included 11 squares, 11 regular triangles, and 10 circles. Wound dressing was done every other day with polyurethane foam. The wound size was measured using a Visitrak $Digital^{(R)}$ (Smith & Nephew, Hull, UK) on every other day after surgery from day 2 to day 28. A biopsy was performed on day 3, and 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks to investigate the degree of acute and chronic inflammation, the number of microvesssel and myofibroblast density using H & E stain and immunohistochemistry. The wound contraction rate was calculated to figure out the differences among each of the shapes and the locations. Results: The ultimate shape of the circle wound was oval, and that of the regular triangle and square were stellate. The maximum contraction rate was obtained on 8 to 10 days for all the shapes, which corresponds with the immunohistochemical finding that myofibroblast increases in the earlier 2 weeks whereas it decreases in the later 2 weeks. Epithelialization was seen in the wound margin on day 7 and afterwards. The final wound contraction rates were highest for the regular triangle shapes; however, there were no statistically significant differences. The wound contraction rates by locations showed statistically significant differences. The wound in the cephalic area presented more contractions than that of the wounds in the caudal area. Conclusion: The location of a wound is more important factor than the wound shape in wound contraction.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.467-472
• /
• 2008

Antarctic krill has a strong proteolytic enzyme system, which comes from a combination of several proteases. This powerful activity can be easily detected by krill's superior post mortem autolysis. Mammalian skin consists of epidermis and dermal connective tissue, and functions as a barrier against threatening environments. A clot in a wound site of the skin should be removed for successful skin regeneration. Epithelial cells secrete proteases to dissolve the clot. In previous studies Antarctic krill proteases were purified and characterized. The proteolytic enzymes from Antarctic krill showed higher activity than mammalian enzymes. It has been suggested that these krill clean up the necrotic skin wound to induce a natural healing ability. The enzymes exhibited additional possibilities for several other biomedical applications, including dental plaque controlling agent and healing agent for corneal alkali burn. Considering that these versatile activities come from a mixture of several enzymes, discovering other proteolytic enzymes could be another feasible way to enhance the activity if they can be used together with krill enzymes. Molecular cloning of the krill proteases should be carried out to study and develop the applications. This review introduces possible roles of the unique Antarctic krill proteases, with basic information and suggestion for the development of an application to skin regeneration.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.34-38
• /
• 1997

Recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF), a polypeptide of 53 amino acid residues, is subject to degradation by numerous enzymes, especially proteases, when it is applied on the skin for the treatment of open wound. Amastatin, aprotinin, bestatin, EDTA, EGTA, gabexate, gentamicin, leupeptin, and TPCK were investigated for the possible protease inhibitors, which may use to protect rhEGF from degradation by the enzymes in the skin. Skin homogenates containing protease inhibitors and rhEGF were incubated at $37^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. After the reaction was stopped with trifluoroacetic acid, the amount of rhEGF remaining in the sample was determined with an HPLC method. The percentages of rhEGF degraded, at the skin/PBS ratio of 0.25, in the mouse, rat, and human skin homogenate were 85%, 70%, and 46%, respectively. The degree of degradation of rhEGF in the cytosolic fraction was higher than that in the membrane fraction and these enzyme reactions were completed in 30 minutes. Bestatin, EGTA, and TPCK showed significant inhibitory effects on the degradation of rhEGF in the two fractions (p<0.05), while the other protease inhibitors had no significant inhibitory effects or, even resulted in deleterious effects. Therefore, the formulation containing one or several inhibitors among these effective inhibitors would be a promising topical preparation of rhEGF for the treatment of open wound.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.167-170
• /
• 2019

Full-thickness scalp burns secondary to hair coloring are rare; however, such defects can be large and complex reconstruction of hair-bearing tissue may be necessary. Many skin-stretching devices that use gradual traction have been applied to take advantage of the viscoelastic properties of the skin. A 21-year-old female patient was seen with a burn defect on her occipital scalp leading to exposed subcutaneous tissue after chemical application of hair coloring in a salon. The dimensions of the wound were $10cm{\times}5cm$, and a skin graft or flap would have been necessary to close the defect. Two long transfixing K-wires (1.4 mm) and paired 3-wire threads (23 gauge), which are readily available in most hospitals, were applied over a period of 12 days for trichophytic closure of the defect. The remaining scalp scars after primary trichophytic closure with this skin-stretching method were refined with hair follicle transplantation. This skin-stretching method is simple to apply and valuable for helping to close problematic areas of skin shortage that would otherwise require more complicated procedures. This case shows a relatively unknown complication of hair coloring and its treatment.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.277-281
• /
• 1992

To investigate the effect of chlorhexidine gluconate and povidone iodine on wound healing, their antimicrobial activity and their effects on wound contraction in rabbits were studied. Staphyococcus aureus (1${\times}$10$\^$7/) was inoculated on the full thickness skin defects (2${\times}$2cm) on the back. Antiseptics were applied on the defects 2 hours after Inoculation. The defects were swabbed for bacterial culture 24 and 48 hours after the application of antiseptics. Percentage of wound contraction, based on wound area measured on the day of surgery was calculated for each wound on days 1,7 and 14. The 0.5% chlorhexidine gluconate solution had more effective antimicrobial activity against Staphyococcus aureus in wounds than 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate solution (p<0.05), and povidone iodine solution and saline (p<0.01). Percentages of wound contraction were not significantly different among different dilutions of the antiseptics and saline. Present study indicated that the antimicrobial activity of chlorhexidine gluconate in wound was superior to that of povidone iodine.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.55-60
• /
• 1993

To investigate e effect of antimicrobial ointments on wound healing wound contraction was measured in rabbits with daily application of ointments. Full thickness skin defects(1cm$\times$1cm) were made in three different areas on the back. Percentage of wound contraction based on wound area measured on the day of surgery was calculate every other day until day 9. The percentages of wound contraction in saline and gentamycin solution-treated groups were 86.0% and 75.0%, respectively and higher than those in animicrobial ointments, especially gentamycin cream, silver sulfadiazine and madecasol ointments. It was suggested that the effect of antimicrobial ointments on wound healing were not superior to at of physiological saline in respect to wound contraction in rabbits.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.22-31
• /
• 2018

Objectives : In this study, we investigated whether Astragali Radix Pharmacocupuncture (ARP) has an effective on the full thickness defect wound healing process of mouse. Methods : A total of 50 mice (ICR mouse, 7 week-old male) were divided into control group and ARP group. A single full thickness skin defect was made on the dorsal side of the each mouse using an 8mm diameter biopsy punch. Control group were treated with 0.2㎖ saline and ARP group were treat with 0.2ml ARP at 8 points around the wound every three days total 4 times during the experimental period. The change in wound size, contraction rate, healing rate, and epithelization rate was measured by digital images taken on days 3, 6, 9, and 13, and evaluated using a digital image analysis program. Tissues were collected for histological analysis, RT-PCR, and Western blot on days 3, 6, 9, and 15. Results : The results are as follows. ARP group accelerated the rate of wound contraction, wound healing and epithelization compared to the control group. ARP group showed the decrease of inflammatory cells in early inflammatory phase compared to the control group. ARP group upregulated PECAM-1 mRNA and protein expression compared to the control group. ARP group inhibited the scar width and area compared to the control group. Conclusions: ARP showed positive effects on wound healing through the inhibition of inflammatory reaction and increase of PECAM-1 expression related to the wound healing process.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.469-478
• /
• 2012

Sex hormones have long been considered to play an important role in bone turnover rate, periodontal diseases, and wound healing. We have studied the effect of porcine testis steroid extract (PTSE), an extract of porcine testes, which holds a good ratio of 19-nortestosterone (nandrolone), testosterone, androstenedione, $17{\beta}$-estradiol, and estrone, on the healing rate of a standardized full-thickness linear wound on the back of the rat. Skin punch or carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) laser methods were used to create the deep skin injury in two groups of animals. The animals were treated with the PTSE cream, control cream and Vaseline (control) to find out the effect in re-epithelialization, contraction, and formation of granulation and scar tissues. Histological examination after 21 days showed 100, 87.4, and 80.5% recovery of epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis, respectively in the PTSE-treated animals. Similarly, on the 15th day of treatment, complete healing of intact skin was observed in the PTSE cream-treated animals among the laser radiation group. Even though the beginning of re-epithelialization phase and completion of serum crust formation was also observed in the base cream- and Vaseline-treated animals respectively, the complete healing cycle was observed only in the PTSE-treated group. The white blood cell count in the PTSE-treated group showed that PTSE cream is nontoxic to animals.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.255-263
• /
• 2005

Research was undertaken to compare the pharmacological activity of Lithospermi radix (LR) reported as an oriental medicine for classical uses. LR contains naphthoquinone pigments : shikonin, acetylshikonin, isobutylshikonin, etc. LR is used for the treatment of excision wound, burn, eczema, blister, scarlatina and septicemia as antifebrile, antidotic and antiphlogistic. Gardeniae fructus (GF) has been used for the treatment to jaundice, hepatic disease, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, and it contains crocin, geniposide and its derivatives. The therapeutic effects of burn and excision wound healing from LR & GF hydrogel with $Nano-ATP^{\circledR}$ (GLN) were investigated. To evaluate the therapeutic value of various hydrogels, thermal burn model and excision wound mouse model were used. The burn and wound reduction rate and therapeutic period were measured to calculate the healing extent after 5 experiments. The 2nd degree burn was prepared on hairless mouse back skin and dressing with collagen. The burn and wound reduction rate of GLN hydrogel treated group decreased more rapidly than that of other gel group in animal model. Furthermore therapeutic periods of GLN hydrogel treated group was shorter than that of other gel group. In anti-inflammatory test, GLN hydrogel treated group decreased edema rapidly than that of other gel group. These results suggest that the GLN hydrogel treatment has an therapeutic effect on burn and excision wound healing.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.198-202
• /
• 2013

Background Marjolin's ulcer is known to present a high proportion of recurrence and poor prognosis compared to other kinds of skin cancer. Based on our experience, Marjolin's ulcer patients who have received reconstructive surgery present a higher proportion of recurrence when there was disturbed wound healing after surgery. The impact of disturbed wound healing after surgery on the prognosis was examined in this study. Methods A retrospective study was carried out on 26 patients who were diagnosed with Marjolin's ulcer and received surgery in this hospital from 1996 to 2011. Histologic grading, lymph node metastasis at diagnosis, and the wound healing process were evaluated and chi-squared analysis applied in order to determine the correlation with recurrence. Results The proportion of recurrence increases in patients with a low histologic grade or lymph node metastasis at diagnosis. The proportion of recurrence is even higher when the problem occurs during the wound healing process after surgery. Conclusions Disturbed wound healing after surgery could be used as a sign to quickly identify the recurrence of carcinoma. Therefore, in the event a problem occurs in the wound healing process after surgery, one should keep in mind that this could be a sign of the possibility of recurrence and proceed with careful observation and active diagnosis through additional physical examinations, general X-ray tests, computed tomographys, magnetic resonance imagings, and so on, to obtain an early diagnosis of recurrence.