| Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of tacrolimus on rabbit ear hypertrophic scar model.Methods 20 New Zealand White rabbits were adopted. Each ear was created four wounds at its ventral surface using 1 cm diameter punch biopsy for a total of 160 wounds. Ten rabbits with right ear wounds treated by tacrolimus ointment as experimental group, while the other ten rabbits with right ear wounds treated by dexamethasone ointment as positive control group, all the left ear wounds were treated by vaseline as negative control group at the same time. The treatment began on day 14 post wounding when the wounds were completely re-epithelization. The specimens of experimental and control wounds were harvested on day 14, 21, 28, 35 and day 49 after wounding. Scar elevation index (SEI) and hematoxylin-eosin staining were used to reveal differences in scar morphology, while real-time PCR was performed to measure the variation tendency of the expressions of TGF-β1, TGF-β2 , Fibronectin , Collagen-α1 and IL-4. Results SEI was reduced in experimental group (1.46±0.29,1.49±0.33,1.62±0.34,1.58±0.28,1.47±0.30) compared with negative control group(1.85±0.35,2.79±0.33,2.50±0.41,1.86±0.29,1.62±0.33) on each time point. While the positive control group showed more significantly reduce of SEI. Histology staining showed that collagen fibrils were thick and rough in negative control group, while the organization of collagen was more regular in the treatment group. The expressions of TGF-β1, TGF-β2, Fibronectin , Collagen-α1 and IL-4 also distinctly down-regulated in treatment group.Conclusion Tacrolimus could significantly inhibit rabbit ear hypertrophic scar formation in rabbit ear scar model. through the potential mechanism of inhibition T cells activities. This result may suggest that immunosuppressant could be used as a new method to prevent hypertrophic scar formation. |
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