Investigation of biological and wound healing effects of Estrogen solution: An in vitro study

Abstract Background Repairing dermal skin defects denotes a challenging obstacle in wound healing. Wound healing activities of estrogen have been noted in many experimental models proposing their beneficial role in wound closure and treatments of impaired wound healing. To study the most significant problem in dermal defect regeneration, namely collagen formation and insufficient blood supply, this study aimed to evaluate different concentrations of estrogen in the co-culture of fibroblast and endothelial cells. Methods The human fibroblast (C163) and Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were co-cultured and treated with different concentrations of estrogen solution. The cytotoxic effect of estrogen solution was evaluated by MTT assay while expression of endothelial markers (CD31) and Vimentin in treated cells was examined using Real-time PCR and Immunofluorescence analysis. Wound healing capacity in human fibroblast cells was studied by a scratch test assay. Results Estrogen has a dose-dependent proliferation effect on C163 and HUVEC co-culture cells with a significant growth inhibition at concentrations higher than 75 ng/ml concentration. We demonstrated that estrogen increased the growth, proliferation, and migration of C163 and HUVEC co-culture cells, accordingly, cell viability and scratch tests. C163 and HUVEC co-culture cells were cultured by estrogen treatments, which also improved the expression of the CD31 and Vimentin markers. Conclusions These results provide further insight into the function of biological agents in the wound healing process and may have significant approaches for the use of estrogen in skin wound healing.