Maggot extracts promote wound healing, but their bioactive part(s) and molecular effects on the regenerating tissues/cells remain largely unclear. These issues are addressed here by treating rat skin wounds, human keratinocyte line/HaCat and fibroblasts with maggot secretion/excretion, and the extracts of maggots without and with secretion/excretion. The wound closure rates, cell proliferation activities, and statuses of wound healing-related signaling pathways (STAT3, Notch1, Wnt2, NF-κB, and TGF-beta/Smad3) and their downstream gene expression (c-Myc, cyclin D1, and VEGF) are evaluated by multiple approaches. The results reveal that the maggot extracts, especially the one from the maggots without secretion/excretion, show the best wound healing-promoting effects in terms of quicker wound closure rates and more rapid growth of keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Of the five signaling pathways checked, the ones mediated by TGF-beta/Smad3, and STAT3 are activated in the untreated wounds and become further enhanced by the maggot extracts, accompanied with c-Myc, VEGF, and cyclin D1 up-regulation. Our results thus show (1) that both body extract and secretion/excretion of maggots contain favorable wound healing elements and (2) that the enhancement of TGF-beta/Smad3 and STAT3 signaling activities may be the main molecular effects of maggot extracts on the wound tissues.
© 2014 by the Wound Healing Society.