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Updated: Jan 3, 2026
Evaluation of Stem Cell Therapies in a Bilateral Patellar Tendon Injury Model in Rats
Published on: March 30, 2018
Antler stem cell-conditioned medium stimulates regenerative wound healing in rats
Xiaoli Rong1,2,3, Wenhui Chu4, Haiying Zhang5
1Changchun Sci-Tech University, 1699 DongHua St., Shuangyang District, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China.
Background:
When the deer antler is cast, it leaves a cutaneous wound that can achieve scarless healing due to the presence of antler stem cells (ASCs). This provides an opportunity to study regenerative wound healing.
Methods:
In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effects and mechanism of antler stem cell-conditioned medium (ASC-CM) on cutaneous wound healing in rats. In vitro, we investigated the effects of the ASC-CM on proliferation of HUVEC and NIH-3T3 cell lines. In vivo, we evaluated the effects of ASC-CM on cutaneous wound healing using full-thickness skin punch-cut wounds in rats.
Results:
The results showed that ASC-CM significantly stimulated proliferation of the HUVEC and NIH-3T3 cells in vitro. In vivo, completion of healing of the rat wounds treated with ASC-CM was on day 16 (± 3 days), 9 days (± 2 days) earlier than the control group (DMEM); the area of the wounds treated with ASC-CM was significantly smaller (p < 0.05) than the two control groups. Further molecular characterization showed that the ratios of Col3A1/Col1A2, TGF-β3/TGF-β1, MMP1/TIMP1, and MMP3/TIMP1 significantly increased (p < 0.01) in the healed tissue in the ASC-CM group.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, ASC-CM effectively accelerated the wound closure rate and enhanced the quality of healing, which might be through transforming wound dermal fibroblasts into the fetal counterparts. Therefore, the ASC-CM may have potential to be developed as a novel cell-free therapeutic for scarless wound healing.
