Blood-derived small Dot cells reduce scar in wound healing.
Wounds in fetal skin heal without scar, however the mechanism is unknown. We identified a novel group of E-cadherin positive cells in the blood of fetal and adult mice and named them "Dot cells". The percentage of Dot cells in E16.5 fetal mice blood is more than twenty times higher compared to adult blood. Dot cells also express integrin beta1, CD184, CD34, CD13low and Sca1low, but not CD45, CD44, and CD117. Dot cells have a tiny dot shape between 1 and 7 microm diameters with fast proliferation in vitro. Most of the Dot cells remain positive for E-cadherin and integrin beta1 after one month in culture. Transplantation of Dot cells to adult mice heals skin wounds with less scar due to reduced smooth muscle actin and collagen expression in the repair tissue. Tracking GFP-positive Dot cells demonstrates that Dot cells migrate to wounds and differentiate into dermal cells, which also express strongly to FGF-2, and later lose their GFP expression. Our results indicate that Dot cells are a group of previously unidentified cells that have strong wound healing effect. The mechanism of scarless wound healing in fetal skin is due to the presence of a large number of Dot cells.
Kong
Wuyi
W
Children's Surgical Research Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 257 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305-5148, USA. wkong@stanford.edu
Li
Shaowei
S
Longaker
Michael T
MT
Lorenz
H Peter
HP
D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000473:pathology*; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000166:cytology; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019012:Integrin beta1 / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply / Q000166:cytology; D014945:Wound Healing
D000199:Actins; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D015820:Cadherins; D024042:Collagen Type I; D019012:Integrin beta1; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2