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Nitric Oxide Accelerates the Recovery from Burn Wounds

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Abstract

A full-thickness burn wound model was used to evaluate the effects of a topically applied gel-based nitric oxide donor on wound healing in rats. The histological study demonstrated that the nitric oxide (NO) application significantly promoted re-epithelization that resulted in a fast recovery of burn wound. The histological sections further revealed that inflammatory cell infiltration in the NO-treated group was significantly increased in comparison to the control group. The enhanced accumulation of inflammatory cells resulted in a higher expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO) that was detected with imunoblotting. An immunohistochemistry study with CD31, a specific marker for endothelial cells, indicated that NO treatment markedly stimulated angiogenesis. Evaluation of collagen synthesis by immunohistochemistry with procollagen antibody demonstrated a significantly increased collagen synthesis in NO-treated wound bed. We concluded that NO treatment promoted re-epithelialization and wound closure by means of enhanced inflammatory cell infiltration, and that it promoted angiogenesis and facilitated collagen synthesis in the wound bed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NL64221, GM061731, P30DK56338); the John S. Dunn, Harold and Leihla Mathers, and Robert A. Welch foundations; The Army Defense Department; and The University of Texas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, Institute of Molecular Medicine, The University of Texas–Health Science Center at Houston, 6431 Fannin St, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Haifeng Zhu PhD, Bian Ka MD, PhD & Ferid Murad MD, PhD

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  1. Haifeng Zhu PhD
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  2. Bian Ka MD, PhD
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  3. Ferid Murad MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ferid Murad MD, PhD.

Additional information

This work was presented at the Molecular Surgeon Symposium on Vascular Injury, Repair and Remodeling at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, May 15 and 16, 2006. The symposium was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Health (to C. Chen: R13 HL0836500).

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Zhu, H., Ka, B. & Murad, F. Nitric Oxide Accelerates the Recovery from Burn Wounds. World J. Surg. 31, 624–631 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-007-0727-3

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