The effects of social isolation on wound healing mechanisms in female mice
Abstract
Various stressors impair wound healing in humans and rodents. For example, social isolation delays wound closure in rodents, but the healing mechanisms that underlie this delay have yet to be identified. Here, the effects of three weeks of social isolation on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses and healing factors involved in the inflammatory and proliferative phases of wound healing were assessed in adult female hairless mice. Social isolation reduced basal circulating corticosterone concentrations and increased body and thymus weights compared with group-housed controls. Isolation impaired dermal wound closure by up to 30% and reduced initial total wound bacterial load relative to controls. Inflammatory gene expression in the wounds was not affected by the observed differences in wound bacterial load. However, isolation reduced wound gene expression of keratinocyte growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor, which are involved in keratinocyte proliferation/migration and angiogenesis during the proliferative phase of healing. These data indicate that social isolation induces healing impairments that may be attributed to reductions in growth factors necessary for proper skin cell proliferation and blood vessel growth during healing. This healing impairment occurred in the absence of both high wound bacterial load and elevated circulating glucocorticoids, which have previously been hypothesized to be required for stress-impaired healing in mice.
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Social isolation reduces cortisol levels and lowers KGF and VEGF at the wound site, leading to significantly retarded healing.
“Similarly, social isolation leading to reduced cortisol levels and associated lowering of KGF and VEGF at the wound site lead to significantly retarded healing (113).”
From Wound repair and regeneration: Mechanisms, signaling, and translation (2014) · cites this paper as [113]
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Wound repair and regeneration: Mechanisms, signaling, and translation
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- Authors
- Pyter, L. M., Yang, L., da Rocha, J. M., & Engeland, C. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Engeland, Christopher G.
- Venue
- Physiology & Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-03
- Volume
- 127
- Pages
- 64-70
- ISSN
- 0031-9384 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2069981575
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 3.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physiology & Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Wound Healing and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Cancer, Stress, Anesthesia, and Immune Response
- Keywords
- social isolation, wound healing, stress, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, corticosterone, keratinocyte growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, keratinocyte proliferation, angiogenesis, inflammatory gene expression, female mice, hairless mice
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Body Weight, Corticosterone, Female, Housing, Animal, Mice, Hairless, Organ Size, Skin, Social Isolation, Thymus Gland, Time Factors, Wound Healing, Gene Expression, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A, Mice, Fibroblast Growth Factor 7, Bacterial Load, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
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