Intravenous Administration of Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor for Stem Cells Mobilization and Third Degree Burn Wound Healing in Rats

Abstract

Introduction: Burns are one the most common skin damages which require medical intervention to be fully-recovered. In this light, tissue engineering field presents a vide verity of strategies including both scaffold-based and cell-based approaches to recover the damaged site. Materials and Methods: In this study, the effects of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration on mobilization of the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into defect area and treatment of the skin burn wound was examined in vivo. The G-CSF was injected intravenously into rats subjected to third degree burn wound. At days 3, 5, 7, 15 and 30 post-injections, the defect site was removed and investigated by H&E and Malory’s trichrome staining. The number of MSCs in blood samples was also determined by flow cytometry assay. Results: According to the results, intravenously administration of G-CSF significantly increased collagenesis and number of fibroblast cells infiltrated into the burned site, while decreased the severity of acute inflammatory response and amount of inflammatory cells comparing to control. The number of MSCs in bloodstream, representing the rate of MSCs migration, showed a 4-fold increase in the experimental group compared to control. Conclusions: The current study suggests the potential of intravenously administration of G-CSF as an effective strategy for treatment of severe burn injuries.