: NM_017232.2); TGF-β1 forward, 5′-GACCGCAACAACGCAATCTA-3′ and TGF-β1 reverse, 5′-ACGTGTTGCTCCACAGTTGAC-3′ (GenBank accession no.: NM_021578.1); IL-6

forward, 5′-CAGCCACTGCCTTCCCTACT-3′ and IL-6 reverse, 5′-CAGTGCATCATCGCTGTTCAT-3′ (GenBank accession no.: NM_012589.1); β-actin forward, 5′-CCCGCGAGTACAACCTTCTT-3′ and β-actin reverse, 5′-CCACGATGGAGGGGAAGAC-3′ (GenBank accession no.: NM_031144.2). The significance of differences in the wound area trends between groups was evaluated using repeated-measures anova with group, time and the Deforolimus mouse group and time interaction as fixed effects. Multiple comparisons adjusted by the Bonferroni correction were performed to test the significance Selleckchem 17-AAG of the differences between groups at each time point. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare the numbers of α-smooth muscle actin-positive cells between two groups. The software SAS ver. 9.1 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) was used for all statistical analyses. Values are presented as the mean and SD unless otherwise indicated.

Full-thickness wounds were created at lateroabdominal sites on both sides of each animal and kept moist until day 5. After granulation tissue had become established, 3-oxo-C12-HSL or the same concentration of DMSO was administered to the wound surface. Gross observations revealed increased wound contraction after 3-oxo-C12-HSL administration (Fig. 1a). The time course of the changes in the wound area clearly indicated accelerated wound healing at 24 h after the administration of the quorum-sensing signal (Fig. 1b). The interaction of group and time was significant (F=3.03, P=0.002), and multiple comparisons were therefore performed. The

relative areas were significantly smaller in the 3-oxo-C12-HSL group than in the vehicle group on days 6, 7, 8 and 9 (P=0.013, P<0.001, P=0.002 and P<0.001, respectively). HE staining of the granulation tissue revealed massive accumulation of fibroblasts in both groups (Fig. Flucloronide 2a). Infiltration of PMNs was also observed on the wound surface in the 3-oxo-C12-HSL group (Fig. 2b). Because wound contraction relies on the differentiation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, we further investigated the basis for the accelerated wound contraction by immunostaining of α-smooth muscle actin to assess myofibroblast differentiation (Ishiguro et al., 2009). The immunostaining revealed that α-smooth muscle actin-positive cells were clearly present across the granulation tissue in the 3-oxo-C12-HSL group, whereas the control DMSO group only contained α-smooth muscle actin-positive cells at the edge of the wound (Fig. 3). The number of α-smooth muscle actin-positive cells per high-power field was significantly higher in the 3-oxo-C12-HSL group than in the control group (P<0.001, Fig. 3).