Figure 1.

DNA damage in skin explants resulting from silver-containing dressings. Skin explants were treated with silver dressings or gauze (control) for 24 or 48 h. (A) Cross section of skin samples showing silver depositions highlighted using silver autometallography. Dressings were placed on the dermal sides of explants (this corresponds to the top of each sample image) and incubated for 24 h. Brown/black colour indicates silver depositions in skin tissue. The increased silver staining is marked with (#). Bars represent 1 mm. (B) The first row shows γH2AX (red) staining in explants treated with the dressings for 24 h; the second row shows controls without the primary antibody. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue). Bars represent 200 μm. (C) A representative Western blot image of γH2AX and the housekeeping protein β actin from skin explants incubated with silver-containing dressings for 24 or 48 h. The image is a composition of four Western blot membranes as indicated by dividing lines. (D) Quantification of γH2AX protein levels from 6 independent experiments treated as in (A). Mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, Student t-test relative to control in the specified time. (E) Relative expressions of GADD45G, DNAJA1, HSPH1, and PLK3 genes in silver dressing-treated skin explants from six independent experiments after 24 and 48 h. Mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, ^#p < 0.001, Student t-test relative to control in specified times.