Effect of IGF-1 Gene Therapy in Acute Cutaneous Wound Healing in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Background and Delayed wound healing is a common complication of diabetes mellitus. However، less is known about the cause of this pathology. Types of skin cells، extracellular matrix and variety of growth factors are involved in wound healing. The use of recombinant growth factors in researches and production of skin substitutes are still a challenge. Much research has been done on the effects of gene therapy and cell therapy in wound healing. This experimental study assessed the effect of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) over expression in combination with fibroblast cells therapy to diabetic wounds in rats. Diabetes was induced in rats using Streptozotocin. Fibroblasts were cultured and transfected with IGF-1. Lipofectamine 2000 was used as reagent transfection and transgene expression levels were measured by ELIZA. To study the in vivo، rats (weighing 170-20 g) were randomly divided into three groups (5/group) and full-thickness wounds were created on the dorsum region. Suspensions of transfected fibroblast and native fibroblast cells were injected into the wound and were compared with the wounds treated with normal saline. For microscopic examination، biopsy was performed on day 8. In in vitro، the maximum expression of IGF-1 in transfected fibroblast cells (96. 95 pg/ml) was 24 h after gene transfer. In vivo، IGF-1 gene therapy increased the number of fibroblast and keratinocyte cells in wound healing process. Granulation tissue formation in transfected fibroblast and native fibroblast cells groups compared with the normal saline group were found to be more organized. The expression of IGF-1 increased by optimization of gene transfer. High concentrations of IGF-1، in combination with cell therapy، had a significant effect on delayed wound healing in diabetic rats.