Type 2 diabetes affects over 340 million people worldwide. This condition can go unnoticed and undiagnosed for years, leading to a late stage where high glycaemia produces complications such as delayed wound healing. Studies have shown that 12-HHT through BLT2, accelerates keratinocyte migration and wound healing. Additionally, evidence has shown the role of nitric oxide as a pro-regenerative mediator, which is decreased in diabetes. Our main goal was to study the association between the 12-HHT/BLT2 axis and the nitric oxide production in wound healing under different glycaemia conditions. For that purpose, we used in vivo and in vitro models. Our results show that the skin from diabetic mice showed reduced BLT2 and iNOS mRNA, TEER, 12-HHT, nitrites, and tight junction levels, accompanied by higher MMP9 mRNA levels. Furthermore, a positive correlation between BLT2 mRNA and nitrites was observed. In vitro, HaCaT-BLT2 cells showed higher nitric oxide and tight junction levels, and reduced MMP9 mRNA levels, compared to mock-keratinocytes under low and high glucose condition. The wound healing capacity was associated with higher nitric oxide production and was affected by the NOS inhibition. We suggest that the BLT2 expression improves the keratinocyte response to hyperglycaemia, associated with the production of nitric oxide.
Keywords: 12-HHT.; BLT2; Diabetes; NO; skin damage’ epithelial integrity.