Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 13 pp 17118—17136

Human adipose-derived stem cells promote seawater-immersed wound healing via proangiogenic effects

Jiachao Xiong1, *, , Hong Qiang2, *, , Ting Li2, *, , Jiayi Zhao3, *, , Ziyu Wang3, , Fei Li4, , Jianwen Xu5, ,

  • 1 Department of Plastic Surgery, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200120, China
  • 2 Department of Nursing, Shanghai Yangpu Shidong Hospital, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 3 Department of General Practice, Changhai Hospital, Naval Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 4 Department of Neurology, Shanghai Yangpu Shidong Hospital, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 5 Department of Wound Stoma Clinic, Shanghai Yangpu Shidong Hospital, Shanghai 200438, China
* Equal contribution

Received: December 14, 2020       Accepted: February 18, 2021       Published: March 26, 2021      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202773
How to Cite

Copyright: © 2021 Xiong et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Seawater immersion can increase the damage to skin wounds and produce chronic wounds, and the application of human adipose-derived stem cells can significantly promote healing. However, the mechanism underlying angiogenesis is currently unclear. In this study, we investigated the vascularization effect of human adipose-derived stem cells on the repair of seawater-treated skin wounds and explored the underlying mechanisms using bioinformatics. The results showed that human adipose-derived stem cells differentiated into vascular endothelial cells and promoted seawater-immersed wound vascularization by promoting vascular endothelial cell proliferation and migration. The differentially expressed genes between human adipose-derived stem cells and fibroblasts were identified and analyzed (including via gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment, protein–protein interaction network, and correlation analyses). The genes may promote wound healing by regulating the mechanisms of extracellular matrix remodeling, programmed cell death, inflammation, and vascularization. In conclusion, this study provides novel insights into the use of human adipose-derived stem cells in the regeneration of seawater-immersed skin wounds and chronic wounds.

Abbreviations

CCK8: cell counting kit-8; EdU: 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor; DEGs: differentially-expressed genes; PPI: protein–protein interaction; GO: gene ontology; KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; BP: biological process; CC: cell component; MF: molecular function; qRT-PCR: quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; ADSCs: adipose-derived stem cells; hADSCs: human adipose-derived stem cells; GEO: gene expression omnibus; DAVID: Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery; IL: interleukin; ECM: extracellular matrix; PI3K: phosphoinositide 3 kinase; Casp8: caspase-8; GPX4: glutathione peroxidase; NCOA4: nuclear receptor coactivator 4; HUVEC: human umbilical vein endothelial cell.