Immunohistological changes in skin wounds during the early periods of healing in a rat model

Abstract

The complexity of the wound healing process, which is still poorly understood, prompted us to perform an immunohistochemical investigation using rat skin as an in vivo model. Fifteen Sprague-Dawley rats were included in the experiment. Two round full thickness wounds, 4 mm in diameter, were made on the backs of all rats. Haematoxylin and eosin basic staining as well as antibodies against wide spectrum keratin, keratin 10, keratin 14, α-smooth muscle actin, vimentin, fibronectin, collagens Type 1 and 3, and the transcription factor Sox-2 were applied to paraffin and frozen sections of skin wound specimens two, six and fourteen days after surgery, respectively. New hair follicles with Sox-2-positive cells were present after fourteen days; keratin/vimentin positivity was restricted to specimens of day two. Collagen-3 expression prevailed over collagen-1 expression at all evaluated time intervals, except in the uninjured part of the dermis. In conclusion, rat skin wound healing is a dynamic process which can serve as a model for studying phenomena such as cell-cell interactions and transitions in vivo.