Histological Study on the Potential Role of Exosomes Released from Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Healing of Cutaneous Wound in Adult Male Albino Rats

Abstract

The integrity of skin is essential to maintain the physiological homeostasis of the human body. Skin wounds cause loss of skin’s integrity which results in physiologic imbalance. Skin wounds also have serious psychological impacts due to the disfigurement caused by scarring which can be impossible to prevent and difficult to treat. Exosomes are effective in treating various diseases and do not have the drawbacks of MSCs. Therefore, the attention of researchers was directed towards cell free therapy in treating skin injuries. This histological study was carried out to study the potential role of exosomes derived from MSCs on healing of cutaneous wound in adult male albino rats. Forty-two adult male albino Wistar rats with average weight of 200 grams were used in this study. In addition, five young weaned male albino rats weighing 70-80 grams were used for the isolation of MSCs. The adult rats were randomly divided into three groups, 14 rats each: Group I: served as a control group, and it was further subdivided into two subgroups, subgroup Ia and subgroup Ib in which rats were sacrificed after 14 days and 21 days from the beginning of the experiment, respectively. Group II: served as spontaneous wound healing group in which full thickness skin wound was generated on the back of the rats. This group was further subdivided into two subgroups, subgroup IIa and subgroup IIb in which rats were sacrificed after 14 days and 21 days from the beginning of the experiment, respectively. Group III: served as treated skin wound with exosomes, in which full thickness skin wound was generated on the back of the rats and on the second day after surgery, rats were given single intravenous injection of 1ml PBS in the tail vein containing purified exosome concentrate collected from the conditioned medium of one million MSCs. This group was further subdivided into two subgroups, subgroup IIIa and subgroup IIIb in which rats were sacrificed after 14 days and 21 days from the beginning of the experiment, respectively.