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Epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition and keratinocyte differentiation in equine experimental body and limb wounds healing by second intention
Author(s) -
Jørgensen Elin,
Pirone Andrea,
Jacobsen Stine,
Miragliotta Vincenzo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
veterinary dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1365-3164
pISSN - 0959-4493
DOI - 10.1111/vde.12774
Subject(s) - wound healing , epithelial–mesenchymal transition , mesenchymal stem cell , limb development , transition (genetics) , medicine , anatomy , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology , surgery , biology , embryo , biochemistry , gene
Background The re‐epithelialization process in equine wound healing is incompletely described. For epithelial cells to migrate during embryogenesis they undergo epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition ( EMT ); this phenotypic transition occurs during wound healing in humans and rodents, but it has not been investigated in horses. Hypothesis/objectives To investigate keratinocyte differentiation and EMT in equine experimental excisional limb and body wounds healing by second intention. Animals Six adult research horses. Methods and materials Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect expression of the differentiation markers cytokeratin ( CK )10, CK 14, loricrin and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor alpha ( PPAR ‐α), and of the EMT markers E‐cadherin and N‐cadherin in normal limb and body skin, and biopsies from limb and body wounds. Results Loricrin and CK 10 were expressed in normal skin and periwound skin but not in migrating epithelium of body and limb wounds. However, they reappeared at the migrating epithelial tip of body wounds only. CK 14 and PPAR ‐α had uniform distribution throughout the migrating epithelium. N‐cadherin was not expressed in normal unwounded skin but was detected in periwound skin adjacent to the wound margin. E‐cadherin expression decreased at the wound margin. Conclusions and clinical importance Presence of N‐cadherin suggests that cadherin switching occurred during wound healing, this may be an indication that EMT occurs in horses. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this has never been described in horses before and warrants further investigation to assess the clinical implications. The tip of the migrating epithelium in body wounds appeared more differentiated than limb wounds, which could be part of the explanation for the superior healing of body wounds.