Hypertrophic scarring (HSc) which frequently develops in patients following severe thermal injury is characterized by accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins including type I and type III collagen. In this study, we examined the presence and quantity of IGF-1 mRNA transcripts in post-burn HSc. The results of dot blot experiments showed a 77.5% (100 +/- 8.15 vs 177.5 +/- 19, p<0.01) increase in expression of IGF-1 IIIRNA in HSe tissue relative to normal dermis obtained from the same patients. A Northern blot analysis confirmed the specificity of the IGF-1 cDNA. This cDNA visualized four different transcripts with apparent sizes of 7.0, 3.9, 1.8 and 1.0 kb, similar to those previously reported. The possible fibrogenic role of IGF-1 was examined by analyzing the effect of this growth factor on the expression of mRNA for the pro alpha 1(I) chain of type I procollagen and the pro alpha 1(III) chain of type III procollagen in dermal fibroblasts. IGF-1 increased the expression of these transcripts as early as 6 h and the effect was maximal at 24 h. Quantitative analysis by densitometry showed a 149 and 166% increase in pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 1(III) mRNA after 24 h of IGF-1 treatment, respectively. This effect seems to be specific as the abundance of mRNA for the pro alpha 2(I) chain of type I procollagen or TIMP-II was unchanged. When another 4 strains of dermal fibroblasts were treated with IGF-1, a significant increase (16.94 +/- 1.13 vs 10.87 +/- 1.79, p<0.01, N=4) in the expression of type I procollagen mRNA was found. This was consistent with a significant increase in collagen production, as measured by hydroxyproline in conditioned medium (2.04 +/- 0.3 ng/1000 cells vs 1.35 +/- 0.4 ng/1000 cells, p<0.01, N=4). The effects of IGF-1 were temporary, since removal of IGF-1 from media caused a reduction in expression of type I procollagen mRNA to its basal level within 48 h. Enhanced expression of IGF-1 mRNA in post-burn HSc tissues and the potentially fibrogenic effects of this growth factor on dermal fibroblasts, suggest that it could contribute to the accumulation of type I and type III. collagen found in many fibroproliferative disorders such as HSc.