Fig. 6.

rhMG53/ROSS-A6 gel accelerated db/db wound healing with enhanced epidermal thickness and improved formation of hair follicle in vivo. a. Schematic illustration of the design of animal experiments to test the therapeutic effect of MG53/ROSS-A6 gel in a db/db mouse model. b. Representative images of wounds taken at different time points. The wounds were treated with ROSS-A6 gel, and MG53/ROSS-A6 gel via subcutaneous injection. rhMG53/ROSS-A6 gel significantly accelerated wound healing compared with the gel group lacking MG53. c. Wound closure for 12 days for each treatment category. Wound size ratios were normalized to day 0. Data were expressed as means ± standard error (n ≥ 6, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). d. Representative images of Masson trichrome staining (MTS) at day 8 and day 22. Scale bar = 500 μm. e. Quantification of epidermal thickness from MTS images at day 8 and day 22. f. Quantification of collagen deposition at two time points. g. Cytokeratin 14 (K14) staining (10X and 40X) illustrated significantly promoted HFSCs density at both day 8 and day 22 in gel group compared with no treatment group. MG53/ROSS-A6 gel group showed an additional increase of HFSCs density at day 8. Scare bar = 100 μm in lower magnification images. Scale bar = 40 μm in higher magnification inserts. h. Quantification of hair follicle density in vivo based on the images. (n = 8, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).