Effects and mechanisms of HGF in promoting wound healing in rats with total skin defects by targeting the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway
XIE Jian
LU Juan
WANG Tianjun
GAO Fei
ZHAO Shike
Abstract：Objective To investigate the effects and mechanisms of HGF in promoting wound healing in rats with total skin de-fects by targeting the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.Methods From January 2021 to June 2021,Liupanshui People's Hospital(Dewu Campus)were used to establish full-thickness skin defect rat models.Forty-seven successful models were randomly divided into 23 full-thickness skin defect+HGF groups and 24 model groups,26 were normal SD rats..The wound healing conditions,healing rates,histopathological changes,HGF mRNA expression levels,blood flow intensities at different time points,expressions of inflammatory factors,proliferation abilities of vascular endothelial cells at different time points,and expression levels of TGF-β1/Smad proteins were compared among the groups at different time points.The targeting relationship between HGF and TGF-β1/Smad was verified by using the dual-lu-ciferase reporter gene assay.Results Compared with the control group,the model group showed decreased levels of HGF mRNA and IL-10,and increased levels of IL-1β,TGF-β1 mRNA expression,(12 h,24 h)vascular endothelial cell proliferation,p-Smad,IL-4,Smad mRNA expression,and IL-6,TGF-β1,and TNF-α;Vascular endothelial cell proliferation,IL-10,HGF mRNA levels were increased and IL-1β,Smad mRNA,IL-6,TGF-β1,p-Smad,IL-4,TGF-β1 mRNA,TNF-α levels were decreased in the whole skin defect+HGF group(12 h,24 h),and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Compared with the model group,the(7 d,14 d,21 d)wound healing rate,IL-10,(7 d,10 d,14 d post-injury)blood flow intensity,HGF mRNA expression,(12 h,24 h)vascular endothelial cell prolif-eration levels were increased in the full-layer skin defect+HGF group,and the levels of IL-4,IL-6,Smad mRNA,TGF-β1 mRNA,TNF-α,IL-1β levels decreased,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).The results of dual luciferase reporter gene showed that after co-transfection with HGF-mimic,the relative luciferase activity of the TGF-β1-3'-UTR-WT group decreased compared with that of the TGF-β1-3'UTR-MUT group,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion HGF promotes wound healing by inhibiting the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway,promoting the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells in wounds,decreasing the level of inflammatory response in wounds,and increasing the intensity of blood flow.
Keywords：Wound healingHepatocyte growth factorTransforming growth factor β1/signaling protein signaling pathwayTotal skin defectRats
Publication Date：2025-12-15
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-19(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 731-737 )