<i>WNT10A</i>^–/–KO skin wound showing reduced fibrosis/fibrogenesis associated with the decreased expression of stromagenesis-related genes.

<p><b>A)</b> Representative pictures of Masson’s trichrome staining (Scale bars = 100 μm) show that collagen deposits (<i>blue</i>-stained) were markedly smaller with more reduced fibrosis in the injured incurable skin lesions of KO mice than in those of WT mice (n = 8 mice per group). In addition, an immunofluorescence study (Scale bars = 20 μm) reveals that a large number of WT spindle (myo)fibroblasts (<i>blue-stained</i> in nuclei) have significant expression of Type I/III collagen at day 10 post-skin injury, which is very rarely or not observed in KO (myo)fibroblasts. <b>B)</b> On a quantitative analysis, the <i>blue</i>-stained collagen content of KO injured skin was found to be markedly lower than in WT skin. <b>C)</b> Correspondingly, real-time RT-PCR showed that the mRNA expression of <i>Type I</i> and <i>Type III collagen</i> was significantly lower in the KO skin of the day-3 wound healing model than in the WT skin. Values are means ± SE and were normalized for 18s rRNA expression (real-time RT-PCR). *<i>P</i> < 0.05, ***<i>P <</i> 0.0001.