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First published online February 8, 2006

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Wound healing: lost in the male

With age, cuts and grazes take longer to heal, particularly in men. Differences in circulating levels of sex steroids might underlie age- and gender-related variations in wound healing: oestrogens accelerate wound repair by dampening local inflammation; androgens have the opposite effect. Gillian Ashcroft and co-workers now provide new insights into how androgens modulate the inflammatory response during acute wound healing (see p. 722). Castration promotes wound healing in male rats. The authors show that treatment of unneutered male rats with an inhibitor of 5-reductase, which converts testosterone to 5-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), mimics this effect, suggesting that DHT is a major inhibitor of wound repair. Other experiments in Smad3^-/- mice indicate that the transforming growth factor (TGF) ß signalling intermediate Smad3 mediates the pro-inflammatory effects of androgens. The authors suggest that inhibition of DHT production could speed wound healing in elderly males and speculate that measurements of circulating DHT might identify elderly male patients at most risk of developing chronic non-healing ulcers.

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Related articles in JCS:

Androgens modulate the inflammatory response during acute wound healing

Stephen C. Gilliver, Jason J. Ashworth, Stuart J. Mills, Matthew J. Hardman, and Gillian S. Ashcroft
JCS 2006 119: 722-732. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?