Ultrasonic Stimulation of Mouse Skin Reverses the Healing Delays in Diabetes and Aging by Activation of Rac1.

ABSTRACT: Chronic skin-healing defects are one of the leading challenges to lifelong well-being, affecting 2-5% of populations. Chronic wound formation is linked to age and diabetes and frequently leads to major limb amputation. Here we identify a strategy to reverse fibroblast senescence and improve healing rates. In healthy skin, fibronectin activates Rac1 in fibroblasts, causing migration into the wound bed, and driving wound contraction. We discover that mechanical stimulation of the skin with ultrasound can overturn healing defects by activating a calcium/CamKinaseII/Tiam1/Rac1 pathway that substitutes for fibronectin-dependent signaling and promotes fibroblast migration. Treatment of diabetic and aged mice recruits fibroblasts to the wound bed and reduces healing times by 30%, restoring healin

SUBMITTER: Roper JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4902130 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature