M. Wankell et al., Impaired wound healing in transgenic mice overexpressing the activin antagonist follistatin in the epidermis, EMBO J, 20(19), 2001, pp. 5361-5372
Recently, we demonstrated a strong upregulation of activin expression after
skin injury. Furthermore, overexpression of this transforming growth facto
r beta family member in the skin of transgenic mice caused dermal fibrosis,
epidermal hyperthickening and enhanced wound repair. However, the role of
endogenous activin in wound healing has not been determined. To address thi
s question we overexpressed the soluble activin antagonist follistatin in t
he epidermis of transgenic mice. These animals were born with open eyes, an
d the adult mice had larger ears, longer tails and reduced body weight comp
ared with nontransgenic littermates. Their skin was characterized by a mild
dermal and epidermal atrophy. After injury, a severe delay in wound healin
g was observed. In particular, granulation tissue formation was significant
ly reduced, leading to a major reduction in wound breaking strength. The wo
unds, however, finally healed, and the resulting scar area was smaller than
in control animals. These results implicate an important function of endog
enous activin in the control of wound repair and scar formation.