A STUDY OF CYTOKINES IN BURN BLISTER FLUID RELATED TO WOUND-HEALING

This report indicates that retention fluid from blisters of partial sk in thickness burns, which contains relatively large amounts of cytokin es and growth factors, stimulates the wound healing process., Although epidermal growth factor (EGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFG F) levels were low, relatively large amounts of cytokines including pl atelet derived growth factor (PDGF), interleukin (IL-6) and transformi ng growth factor (TGF) alpha were present and these exercised stimulat ory effects on wound healing. TGF beta, which plays an important role in collagen metabolism and in scar formation, was also detected. Contr ary to our expectations, IL-1 alpha and beta, both of which initiate i nflammation, were detected at retalively low levels whereas IL-8 level s were rather high. Various cytokines weve shown to coexist in a balan ced slate in the retention fluids, suggesting that epithelialization m ight be regulated via a cytokine network operating on the wound surfac e. The growth of keratinocytes in culture significantly increased with the addition of 1 per cent or more of blister fluid to the medium.