Authors: Toshiyuki Morita Akiko Tsuchiya Masazumi Sugimoto
Publish Date: 2011/08/17
Volume: 345, Issue: 3, Pages: 379-
Abstract
Reepithelialization in skin wound healing is a process in which epidermal sheets grow and close the wound Although the actin–myosin system is thought to have a pivotal role in reepithelialization its role is not clear In fish skin reepithelialization occurs around 500 μm/h and is 50 times faster than in mammalian skin We had previously reported that leadingedge cells of the epidermal outgrowth have both polarized large lamellipodia and “purse string”like actin filament cables in the scaleskin culture system of medaka fish Oryzias latipes Cell Tissue Res 2007 The actin pursestring APS is a supracellular contractile machinery in which adherens junctions AJs link intracellular myosin IIincluding actin cables between neighboring cells In this study we developed a modified “facetoface” scaleskin culture system as an ex vivo model to study epidermal wound healing and examined the role of the actin–myosin system in the rapid reepithelialization using a myosin II ATPase inhibitor blebbistatin A low level of blebbistatin suppressed the formation of APS and induced the dissociation of keratocytes from the leading edge without attenuating the growth of the epidermal sheet or the migration rate of solitary keratocytes AJs in the superficial layer showed no obvious changes elicited by blebbistatin However two epidermal sheets without APSs did not make a closure with each other which was confirmed by inhibiting the connecting AJs between the superficial layers These results suggest that myosin II activity is required for functional leadingedge cells and for epidermal closure
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