Background: Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are key factors affecting diabetic wound healing. However, the FGF family's expression patterns in skin and wounds influenced by both diabetes and sex are still unknown.
Methods and results: In this study, normal and Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic C57BL/6J male and female mice were used to study the FGF family's expression in non-wound skin and wounds. We found that the expression patterns of Fgfs were affected by sex in both normal and diabetic animals during wound healing. In normal control mice, sex difference had a limited effect on basal skin Fgf expressions. However, it significantly influenced Fgf expressions in wounds. Type 1 diabetes reduced basal and wound-induced skin Fgf expressions. Female mice had far lower wound-induced skin Fgf expressions in diabetic mice. In addition, sex differently influenced Fibroblast growth factors receptor (Fgfr) expression patterns of non-wound skin and wounds in both normal and diabetic mice. Moreover, female mice had a lower relative level of Fibronectin leucine-rich repeat transmembrane protein 2 (FLRT2) - a FGFR activation marker gene - in wound and blood plasma. Correspondingly, the wound areas of female animals were larger than that of male animals in the early stage of wound healing (less than 3-day injury).
Conclusion: Our research shows that the FGF family have different expression patterns in normal and diabetic wound healing in mice of different sex. Additionally, we also provide the signatures of individual FGFs in diabetic wound healing, which deserve further investigation.
Keywords: Diabetes; Fibroblast growth factor; Mice; Sex; Skin; Wound.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.