Role of dermal fibroblasts in rat skin tissue biomechanics

There are few studies on the effect of in situ fibroblast viability on the mechanical properties of skin. This study examines the effect of poison (2-deoxy-D-glucose) and strain on fibroblast viability and stress-relaxation in skin samples from the backs of 20 same-age male rats. Skin samples were either soaked in Kreb's solution or in poison and was then either strained or left unstrained, for a total of four different treatment groups. All samples were fixed and processed for apoptosis assay and light microscopy. The viability study showed that strained tissues soaked in Kreb's solution had significantly more apoptotic cells compared to unstrained tissues soaked in the same solution. For tissues soaked and strained in poison the increase in apoptotic cells was negligible. Samples strained in Kreb's solution were found to have greater stress relaxation compared to samples strained in Kreb's solution with poison. The amount of stress relaxation was found to correlate with the number of viable fibroblasts in the tissues; tissues with more viable fibroblasts have lower stress relaxation. According to the relationships observed, fibroblasts do play an important role in the mechanical properties of rat skin tissues.