Description
The present study aimed to delineate the central mechanisms by which androgens delay wound repair. Blocking the conversion of testosterone to 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by 5alpha-reductase limits its ability to impair skin wound healing, suggesting that DHT is a more potent inhibitor of repair than is testosterone. This study aims to identify, through transcription profiling, potential mechanisms by which the 5alpha-reductase inhibitor MK-434 modulates repair. Microarray analysis of wound RNA samples from rats in which the transformation of testosterone to DHT is prevented has identified biological processes and key individual genes through which DHT may contribute to the altered healing profile in such animals. These include genes with putative roles in wound contraction and re-epithelialization.