Effect of radiation and cell implantation on wound healing in a rat model

Abstract

Cell implantation holds promise for decreasing the effect of radiation on healing of irradiated wounds.

Studies of the in vivo radiosensitivity of human skin fibroblasts

“…We have shown previously that injection of non-irradiated autologous fibroblasts (or bone marrow stromal cells) into an irradiated superficial wound site in rats can result in improved wound strength but using a deep wound model in rat hind limb we found that such injections are of limited value in improving wound strength [10,17,51]. Overall our results suggest that factors other than the radiosensitivity of the skin fibroblasts must play a critical role in wound healing in deep wound sites associated with surgery for STS.…”

“…Radiation leads to reduced fibroblast proliferative capability and function and this might be expected to impact negatively on the normal tissue response [10,17]. In a previous study we demonstrated that skin fibroblasts from individuals who developed wound healing complications following pre-operative radiotherapy had no detectable differences in radiosensitivity in vitro but tended to show a smaller reduction in early proliferation after irradiation [2].…”

“…It has also been suggested that most normal tissue complications arise in patients with normal radiosensitivity simply because every patient has a certain probability of responding severely [12]. However, animal studies have suggested that the effects of radiation on the clonogenic capacity of fibroblasts may be responsible for the delay in wound healing following radiotherapy and surgery [10,17].…”

Risk Factors for Significant Wound Complications Following Wide Resection of Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcomas

“…Radiation and chemotherapy are believed to inhibit wound healing presumably by prevention of collagen synthesis [6,8]. Preoperative EBRT combined with IOERT increases the efficacy of radiation to the tumor bed, while ostensibly limiting morbidity to surrounding normal tissue, thus potentially minimizing the long-term adverse effects of radiation treatment [2,10,13].…”

Ghrelin as a Novel Therapy for Radiation Combined Injury

“…The authors suggest that endogenous infection and bacterial toxins are crucial to increased mortality after radiation and burn (52). Several studies using animal models of radiation injury and wounds have shown that radiation exposure delays wound healing (53)(54)(55)(56)(57)(58). Thermal injury alone can lead to delayed wound healing, increased susceptibility to sepsis and multiorgan failure (59,60), and additional injuries can exacerbate these immunological complications.…”