Topical Insulin Enhances Wound Healing

A new study has found that applying insulin directly to skin wounds significantly enhanced the healing process.

Researchers at the University of California Riverside (UCR, USA) found that skin wounds in rats treated topically with insulin healed faster, surface cells in the epidermis covered the wound more quickly, and cells in the dermis rebuilt blood vessels faster. The researchers discovered that insulin stimulates human keratinocytes--cells that regenerate the epidermis after wounding--to proliferate and migrate in culture.

In cultured human microvascular endothelial cells, the insulin stimulates only migration into the wound tissue. The insulin works by switching on cellular signaling proteins called kinases and sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP), a protein that binds elements in DNA, which regulate production of cholesterol and its relatives. The findings were presented at 46th annual meeting of The American Society for Cell Biology, held in San Diego (CA, USA) during December 2006.

"When we know which cells respond to insulin and which molecules are involved, we may be able to develop ways in which we can make insulin work even better or find ways in which more affordable molecules that mimic these functions of insulin can be developed to treat people who suffer from poor healing,” said lead author Dr. Manuela Martins-Green, an associate professor of cell biology at UCR.

Chronic non-healing wounds affect millions of patients with impaired mobility, as well as those with diabetes. Because diabetes is a disease caused by impaired production or utilization of insulin, this may help explain the connection between diabetes and poor healing.



Related Links:
University of California Riverside