title: The mobilization and recruitment of c-kit+ cells contribute to wound healing after surgery.
abstract: Delayed wound healing is a serious clinical problem in patients after surgery. A recent study has demonstrated that bone marrow-derived c-kit-positive (c-kit(+)) cells play important roles in repairing and regenerating various tissues and organs. To examine the hypothesis that surgical injury induces the mobilization and recruitment of c-kit+ cells to accelerate wound healing. Mice were subjected to a left pneumonectomy. The mobilization of c-kit+ cells was monitored after surgery. Using green fluorescent protein (GFP(+)) bone marrow-transplanted chimera mice, we investigated further whether the mobilized c-kit+ cells were recruited to effect wound healing in a skin puncture model. The group with left pneumonectomies increased the c-kit(+) and CD34(+) stem cells in peripheral blood 24 h after surgery. At 3 days after surgery, the skin wound size was observed to be significantly smaller, and the number of bone marrow-derived GFP(+) cells and GFP(+)/c-kit+ cells in the wound tissue was significantly greater in mice that had received pneumonectomies, as compared with those that had received a sham operation. Furthermore, some of these GFP(+) cells were positively expressed specific markers of macrophages (F4/80), endothelial cells (CD31), and myofibroblasts (αSMA). The administration of AMD3100, an antagonist of a stromal-cell derived factor (SDF)-1/CXCR4 signaling pathway, reduced the number of GFP(+) cells in wound tissue and completely negated the accelerated wound healing. Surgical injury induces the mobilization and recruitment of c-kit+ cells to contribute to wound healing. Regulating c-kit+ cells may provide a new approach that accelerates wound healing after surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Clinical Science, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takemoto
authors.forename: Tao-Sheng
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Mako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohshima
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurazumi
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Tadahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Enoki
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Kimikazu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000378:metabolism*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit