title: Experimental Approaches to Tissue Injury and Repair in Advanced Age.
abstract: Cutaneous wound healing is a complex physiological process. This process can be altered by multiple physiological and pathological factors. Multiple pathophysiological disturbances act to impair resolution of cutaneous wound injury, including obesity, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and advanced age. As our longevity increases without a concomitant increase in healthy living years, it is plausible to assume that problematic wound closure will continue to consume a large portion of our health care resources. Furthermore, advanced age is associated with numerous alterations in the innate and adaptive immune responses that complicate outcomes following cutaneous injury, trauma, or infection. Thus, models that examine the impact of advanced age on cutaneous wound repair will be of great benefit to the development of potential therapeutics that target age-related aberrancies in tissue repair. Herein, we detail two animal models of tissue injury, excisional wound injury and burn injury, that can be used to evaluate wound healing in the context of advanced age. We also describe modifications of these methods to examine wound infection following either excisional or burn injury. Lastly, we discuss methods of subsequent tissue analysis following injury. Models described below can be further adapted to genetically engineered murine strains to study the effects of aging and other co-morbidities on wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Cell Biology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.|Burn and Shock Trauma Institute, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.|Immunology and Aging Program, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.|Health Sciences Division, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Aleah L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Brubaker
authors.affiliation: Burn and Shock Trauma Institute, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.|Health Sciences Division, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.|Department of Surgery, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Stewart R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.affiliation: Integrative Cell Biology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA. ekovacs@lumc.edu.|Burn and Shock Trauma Institute, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA. ekovacs@lumc.edu.|Immunology and Aging Program, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA. ekovacs@lumc.edu.|Department of Surgery, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA. ekovacs@lumc.edu.|Health Sciences Division, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Building 110, Room 4232, 2160 South First Avenue, Maywood, IL, 60153, USA. ekovacs@lumc.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kovacs
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D002056:Burns / Q000473:pathology; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Aging; Animal model; Burn injury; Excisional biopsy; Infection; Wounding healing