No association between glycemia and wound healing in an experimental db/db mouse model

Abstract

Impaired wound healing is a frequent problem in diabetes. Hyperglycemia may be an operative mechanism, but a link between glycemic control and wound healing has never been established.Wounds in db/db mice have been extensively studied. This study was undertaken to see if plasma glucose was a predictor of wound healing. An excisional wound was made (149 db/db mice). Wound closure was studied versus metabolic variables. The animals were 11.8 ± 0.2 weeks (mean ± standard error of the mean), obese (38.1 ± 0.5 g), and hyperglycemic (fasting plasma glucose 21.0 ± 0.7mmol/L). Wound closure at day 13 was 30.1 ± 1.6%. In linear mixed model analyses neither fasting plasma glucose nor its change from start to end of experiment was a significant predictor of wound closure (𝛽� = 0.15, 𝑃� = 0.07, 95%CI: −0.01 to 0.31 and 𝛽� = 0.06, 𝑃� = 0.5, 95%CI: −0.11 to 0.23, resp.). However, increase in body weight significantly and independently predicted wound closure (for weight change, 𝛽� = 0.22, 𝑃� = 0.008, 95%CI: 0.06 to 0.38).This study strongly suggests that wound healing in db/db mice is independent of prevailing glycemia but dependent on anabolic changes such as weight gain over time.