No Association between Glycemia and Wound Healing in an Experimental db/db Mouse Model

Impaired wound healing is a frequent problem in diabetes. Hyperglycemia may be an operative mechanism, but a link between glycemic control and wound healing has never been established. Wounds in db/db mice have been extensively studied. This study was undertaken to see if plasma glucose was a predictor of wound healing. An excisional wound was made (149 db/db mice). Wound closure was studied versus metabolic variables. The animals were 11.8 ± 0.2 weeks (mean ± standard error of the mean), obese (38.1 ± 0.5 g), and hyperglycemic (fasting plasma glucose 21.0 ± 0.7 mmol/L). Wound closure at day 13 was 30.1 ± 1.6%. In linear mixed model analyses neither fasting plasma glucose nor its change from start to end of experiment was a significant predictor of wound closure ( β = 0.15, P = 0.07, 95% CI: −0.01 to 0.31 and β = 0.06, P = 0.5, 95% CI: −0.11 to 0.23, resp.). However, increase in body weight significantly and independently predicted wound closure (for weight change, β = 0.22, P = 0.008, 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.38). This study strongly suggests that wound healing in db/db mice is independent of prevailing glycemia but dependent on anabolic changes such as weight gain over time.