The wound healing process is coordinated by the activities of certain cells, in particular macrophages. They orchestrate an inflammatory response and the release of growth factors which stimulate the wound site to repair. If light-activatable drugs are selectively targeted to macrophages, and then irradiated with a light source, adhesions, hypotropic scarring and hyperplasia could be supressed. By adjusting the light dose to provide stimulatory effects we could also accelerate the whole healing process. We have developed a tissues model (RAFT) to test in vitro our hypothesis. We can monitor cellular response and collagen formation in this model using two-photon microscopy available at the LAMMP facility. This model will allow us to optimal irradiation parameters by studying morphologic and biochemical endpoints, which will then allow us to optimize our in vivo studies.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter