title: Influence of insulin therapy on burn wound healing in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Insulin is proposed as a therapy for suppressing muscle wasting after burn trauma although the long-term effects of this therapy on wound healing are not yet known. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of systemically administered insulin therapy on burn wound healing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Young rats weighing 80-150 g were subjected to 15-20% total body surface area burn injury on their shaved dorsum. The insulin dosage was increased over the first 3 days in each rat from 0.25 U (Day 1), 0.5 U (Day 2), and 1.0 U (Day 3) per 100 g body wt. The rats were euthanized at the fourth or fifteenth day postinjury. Skin sections were analyzed by histochemistry and quantitative polarization microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Histology showed a decreased number of inflammatory cells and increased vasodilation in the insulin-treated animals at Day 4 relative to untreated rats; at Day 15 there was increased reepithelialization. Quantitative analysis using polarization microscopy and picrosirius red staining showed an increased collagen deposition in wounds by Day 4 in insulin-treated rats relative to untreated burn controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that insulin induces accelerated wound healing associated with diminished inflammation and increased collagen deposition.
authors.affiliation: Shriners Burns Hospital, Surgical Services and the Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Sundararajan V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Madibally
authors.forename: Vered
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Livingston
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van De Water
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Yarmush
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002056:Burns / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D003094:Collagen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007249:Inflammation; D007328:Insulin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin; D003094:Collagen