Affiliations: [a]
Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| [b] Department of Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Guangzhou, China
| [c] Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medicine Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| [d]
The Graduate School of Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
| [e] Center of Wound Treatment, Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Guangzhou, China
| [f] The Key Laboratory of Trauma Treatment & Tissue Repair of Tropical Area, PLA, Guangzhou, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Biao Cheng, Department of Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, PLA, Guangzhou 510010, Guangdong Province, China. Tel.: +86 20 88653337; Fax: +86 20 36222169; E-mail: chengbiaocheng@163.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Sympathetic denervation and impaired angiogenesis cause skin diseases. However, the relationship between the sympathetic nervous system and vascular cell turnover in normal skin remains unclear. OBJECTIVE:To determine the effects of sympathetic denervation on vascular cell turnover in normal skin. METHODS:Rats underwent bilateral L2–4 sympathetic trunk resection (sympathectomy group) or sham operation (control). Hindfoot plantar skin was analyzed 2 weeks and 3 months postoperatively. RESULTS:Mural cell marker (α-smooth muscle actin; p < 0.001, and desmin; p = 0.047) expression decreased 2 weeks after sympathectomy, but recovered 3 months after sympathectomy (p > 0.05). CD31 levels were lower in the experimental group than in the control group at 2 weeks (p = 0.009), but not at 3 months. Von Willebrand factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and angiopoietin-2 expression were not significantly different between the groups (p > 0.05). Angiopoietin-1 expression levels were higher in the experimental group than in the control group at 2 weeks (p = 0.035), but not at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS:Lumbar sympathectomy regulates vascular cell turnover in rat hindfoot plantar skin by inhibiting mural cell proliferation and increasing angiopoietin-1 expression. Sympathetic nerves therefore play an important role in plantar skin vascular cell turnover.
