Skin Wound Healing in Obese and Lean Male Adolescent Rats Submitted to Pre-Weaning Litter Size Manipulation

Sabol, F.; Bobrov, N.; Novotný, M.; Vasilenko, T.; Mozeš, Š.; Šefčíková, Z.; Molčányiová, A.; Tkáčová, R.; Tomori, Z.; Gál, Peter

doi:10.14712/fb2014060010021

Folia Biologica > Archive > 2014, Vol. 60 > Issue 1 > Skin Wound Healing in Obese and Lean…

Fol. Biol. 2014, 60, 21-27

https://doi.org/10.14712/fb2014060010021

Skin Wound Healing in Obese and Lean Male Adolescent Rats Submitted to Pre-Weaning Litter Size Manipulation

F. Sabol¹, N. Bobrov², M. Novotný^3,4, T. Vasilenko^3,5,6, Š. Mozeš⁷, Z. Šefčíková⁷, A. Molčányiová⁸, R. Tkáčová⁹, Z. Tomori¹⁰, Peter Gál^11,3

¹Clinic of Heart Surgery, East-Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic
²Department of Forensic Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic
³Department for Biomedical Research, East-Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Košice, Slovak Republic
⁴Department of Pathological Physiology, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic
⁵Clinic of Surgery, Košice-Šaca Hospital and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic
⁶Department of Pathological Anatomy, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Košice, Slovak Republic
⁷Department of Physiological Regulations, Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovak Republic
⁸LABMED Inc., Košice, Slovak Republic
⁹Clinic of Respiratory Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University and Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Košice, Slovak Republic
¹⁰Deparment of Biophysics, Institute of Experimental Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovak Republic
¹¹Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Received April 2013
Accepted November 2013

We investigated whether early postnatal over-nutrition affects normal course of skin wound healing. To induce over-nutrition the litter size was adjusted on the first day after birth to four pups/nest (small litters). In parallel, as a control, normal nests of 10 pups/nest (normal litters) were used. For the wound healing experiment 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats, 15 from normal nests and 15 from small nests, were used. Two parallel full-thickness skin incisions and two full-thickness excisions were performed on the back of each rat. Samples for histological examination (excisions) and wound tensile strength measurement (incisions) were collected on days 2, 6, and 14 after surgery. Our study demonstrates that rats from the small nests had enhanced plasma levels of insulin and enhanced body weight/fat parameters. Furthermore, in small nests, rats that expressed the above-mentioned symptoms displayed slight improvement of epidermis regeneration, accelerated demarcation line formation, and increased wound tensile strength. From this point of view the small nest model used in the present experiment is helpful for exploration whether these acquired changes might be considered as a sufficient essential factor involved in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis and wound repair in juvenile obese male rats. Nevertheless, further studies need to be performed to verify the present findings also on other animal models and humans and to describe the exact underlying mechanism.

Keywords

obesity, wound healing, skin, metabolic syndrome.

Funding

This study was supported in part by the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of the Slovak Republic (VEGA No. 1/1095/11), Agency for Science and Research (APVV 0526-11), by Charles University in Prague (project for support of specific university student research No. 266 513), and by Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (VVGS-39/12-13).