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Updated: Apr 14, 2026
Scratch Migration Assay and Dorsal Skinfold Chamber for In Vitro and In Vivo Analysis of Wound Healing
Published on: September 26, 2019
A skin chamber to investigate wound infection and healing in the mouse
Peter M Geerlings1, Wendy C Ugarte, William J Penhale
1Murdoch University, Western Australia;
Abstract:
The development of a simple, convenient, and reliable polypropylene screw-capped skin chamber, which can be inserted into mice, is described. All implanted chambers of normal immuno-competent mice (n = 10), or immuno-suppressed mice (n = 10) remained in-situ for 15 days. Wound infection was established by a clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in immuno-competent mice (n = 10) 1 day after chamber implantation and chambers remained in-situ for 10 days. Similar infections of wounds among mice immuno-suppressed with cyclophosphamide resulted in the mouse becoming moribund due to systemic invasion by the bacterium. The authors conclude that this mouse skin chamber will be of potential value for studying wound healing during the inflammatory and early proliferative phases, and the influence of infection and treatments on these processes in immuno-suppressed and immuno-competent mice.
Insights
A new mouse skin chamber allows for reliable wound healing studies. This tool aids research into infection and immune status effects on wound repair processes.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Infectious Disease Research
- Wound Healing Models
Background:
- Studying wound healing in vivo requires reliable animal models.
- Assessing the impact of infection and immune status on wound repair is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel polypropylene screw-capped skin chamber for mouse implantation.
- To evaluate the chamber's utility in studying wound healing under normal and infected conditions, in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed mice.
Main Methods:
- A polypropylene screw-capped skin chamber was designed for implantation in mice.
- Chambers were implanted in immunocompetent and cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressed mice.
- Wound infection was induced using Pseudomonas aeruginosa in some mice.
Main Results:
- The implanted chambers remained in situ for 15 days in normal and immunosuppressed mice.
- In immunocompetent mice, chambers remained in situ for 10 days during Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.
- Systemic invasion occurred in immunosuppressed mice with infected wounds, leading to morbidity.
Conclusions:
- The developed mouse skin chamber is a valuable tool for studying wound healing.
- It facilitates research on inflammatory and proliferative phases of wound repair.
- The chamber enables investigation of infection and treatment effects in diverse immune states.
