Background: Functional characterization of human amniotic fluid (AF) proteome, 845 proteins, has revealed that top three functions are cell proliferation, movement and differentiation, events fundamental to development, and tissue repair. Although these findings fortify the idea that AF components play roles in regeneration-like fetal wound healing, it is not known whether the components endure processing. Therefore, we processed AF and tested its effects on diabetes-impaired wound healing in an animal model.
Materials and methods: Through a germfree procedure, mature and premature AF samples were collected, respectively, from the mothers of full-term and preterm infants. Excisional wounds were generated on the dorsum of diabetic rats. Wounds were treated on day 3 and harvested on day 7 postwounding. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen and alpha-smooth muscles actin, markers for mitosis and angiogenesis, respectively, were assessed by in situ immunodetection method.
Results: Significant increases in the rate of wound closure and proliferating cell nuclear antigen-expressing cells were observed in AF-treated wounds when compared with that of sham and control wounds. Likewise, the number of large vessels was significantly increased in the wounds treated with the AF. However, population of myofibroblasts was not affected by the treatment. The mature and premature AF were almost equally effective.
Conclusions: Our data, for the first time, show that processed AF accelerates diabetes-impaired wound healing by activating mitosis and angiogenesis, indicating that bioactive molecules in AF may endure processing. We believe that processed forms of this naturally designed "Cocktail" of bioactive molecules may have multiple clinical applications.
Keywords: Amniotic fluid; Angiogenesis; Diabetes; Mitosis; Rat; Wound healing.
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