Metformin Promotes Mechanical Stretch-Induced Skin Regeneration by Improving the Proliferative Activity of Skin-Derived Stem Cells

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background Skin expansion by mechanical stretch is an essential and widely used treatment for tissue defects in plastic and reconstructive surgery; however, the regenerative capacity of mechanically stretched skin limits clinical treatment results. Here, we propose a strategy to enhance the regenerative ability of mechanically stretched skin by topical application of metformin. Methods We established a mechanically stretched scalp model in male rats ( n = 20), followed by their random division into two groups: metformin-treated ( n = 10) and control ( n = 10) groups. We measured skin thickness, collagen volume fraction, cell proliferation, and angiogenesis to analyze the effects of topical metformin on mechanically stretched skin, and immunofluorescence staining was performed to determine the contents of epidermal stem cells and hair follicle bulge stem cells in mechanically stretched skin. Western blot was performed to detect the protein expression of skin-derived stem cell markers. Results Compared with the control group, metformin treatment was beneficial to mechanical stretch-induced skin regeneration by increasing the thicknesses of epidermis (57.27 ± 10.24 vs. 31.07 ± 9.06 μm, p p p p p p Conclusion Topical application of metformin enhanced the regenerative capacity of mechanically stretched skin, with the underlying mechanism possibly attributed to improvements in the pr

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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