L-tryptophan administration improves the dermal reconstruction in wound area of stressed mice.

<p>Mice were daily submitted to restraint stress and treated with L-tryptophan (Trp) or vehicle until euthanasia. Two days after the beginning of the stress protocol, two full-thickness excisional lesions (8-mm diameter) were made on the dorsal skin and collected five or seven days after wounding. To evaluate the myofibroblastic differentiation, the volume density of myofibroblast (Vv_{[myofibroblast]}%) (A) and the protein levels of active transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) 1/2/3 (17 KDa) (B) were measured in wound lysate 5 days after wounding. The β-actin (42 KDa) was used as a loading control protein. Vertical black lines show non-adjacent bands from the same blot. To measure the collagen deposition, the protein levels of collagen type III (COL III) (138 KDa) (C) at 5 days and collagen type I (COL I) (140–210 KDa) (D) at 7 days were measured in wound lysate. The β-actin (42 KDa) was used as a loading control protein. Representative images of migratory tongue (E) in stressed (ST) and stressed+tryptophan (ST+Trp) groups after five (5d) days of wounding. Black dotted line shows migratory tongue length (E), asterisk show normal skin (E) and sections are stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Bar = 500 μm. To evaluate the neo-epidermis formation, the length of migratory tongue (F) at 5 days and the percentage of re-epithelialized wound area (G) at 7 days were measured. To evaluate the wound contraction, the percentage of original wound area (H) was measured 3, 5 and 7 days after wounding. Data (n = 5 or n = 10) are presented as mean ± SEM. ^#p<0.05 vs. stressed (ST) group.