Ovarian hormone deficiency and wound healing

Objective: To demonstrate the effect of ovarian hormone deficiency on inflammatory cell infiltration and wound contraction during cutaneous wound repair, using the ovariectomised rat model of the human menopause. Methods: 96 adult female Wistar rats were randomly allocated into either an ovariectomised group or a control sham-ovariectomised group. Full-thickness excised lesions were made in the flank skin of the rats at either 2 weeks or 4 months post-ovariectomy/sham-ovariectomy. Following wounding, the rats were left for 3, 5, 10 or 22 days and polymorphonuclear leucocyte (PMNL), monocyte and macrophage counts were assessed from histological sections of tissue excised at these intervals post-injury. Wound contraction was assessed from photographs of the wounds taken at these intervals. Results: At 2 weeks and 4 months post-ovariectomy, the ovariectomised rats showed markedly reduced numbers of PMNLs, monocytes and macrophages in the wound bed on days 3 and 5 post-injury, but by day 10 these cells were frequently more numerous in the ovariectomised groups than in the sham-ovariectomised controls, where the numbers had reduced as. occurs typically in the proliferative and remodelling phases of healing. A significantly reduced number of mature tissue macrophages was noted in the ovariectomised groups at all stages of the healing process, compared to the controls, and at 4 months (but not 2 weeks) post-ovariectomy there was a slower rate of wound contraction in the ovariectomised rats. Conclusion: These findings of an impairment of wound healing following ovarian hormone deficiency may have an important impact on the administration of hormone replacement therapy to the increasing population of postmenopausal women in the future. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.