Article
GDF-5 leads to a better skin quality after full-thickness skin defects
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Authors
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J. Schiefer
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M. Held
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R. Rath
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W. Petersen
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J.-O. Werner
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H.-E. Schaller
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A. Rahmanian-Schwarz
| Published: | June 18, 2014 |
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Outline
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Background: Growth factors are important for regulating a variety of cellular processes, including those involved in wound healing. It has been shown that growth and differentiation factor five (GDF-5) is able to accelerate fibroblast cell migration, cell proliferation and collagen synthesis, which are essential for wound healing. Therefore the effect of GDF-5 on the healing of full-thickness wounds was evaluated in a minipig model.
Methods: Eight full-thickness skin defects were created on the dorsum of six Göttingen minipigs. Four wounds were treated with a collagen-gelatin nonwoven containing GDF-5 in different concentrations and three wounds were solely treated with a collagen-gelatin nonwoven. One wound was left untreated. During the experimental period of 21 days, a close up photographic documentation was performed. Afterwards the wounds were examined histologically.
Results: Within the experimental observation time all wounds were completely closed. The systematic evaluation of 48 wounds showed that treatment with the collagen-gelatin scaffold with or without GDF-5 supports and accelerates dermal wound regeneration compared to untreated wounds. Furthermore a higher number of epidermal cells and a thicker epidermis were detected after the treatment with GDF-5 compared to the treatment with the nonwoven alone and the control wound.
Conclusions: GDF-5 leads to a thicker newly formed epidermis in full-thickness skin defects compared to wounds solely treated with the nonwoven and compared to control wounds. Furthermore, any treatment with the scaffold enhanced wound healing. Nevertheless wound treatment was only performed on day one. In further studies the impact of multiple GDF-5 applications on full-thickness skin defects should be investigated.
