HYDROXYPROLINE IN HEALING DERMAL WOUNDS OF NORMAL AND HYPOTHYROID RATS

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Abstract
Various fractions of hydroxyproline were determined in surgical dermal wounds and in the intact skin of normal and hypothyroid rats. Hypothyroidism was induced by feeding the animals for five months with thiouracil containing diet (0.3%). Fourteen day old wounds and samples of intact skin were processed by the extractive chemical method used for the study of tissue collagen. Significant increase of a saline-extractable. and total soluble hydroxyproline, and reduction of insoluble fraction was found in the normal wound. This was considered due to the vigorous biosynthesis of collagen. Such a synthesis was previously found by histological methods in the wounds of the same age in rats. No evidence of the synthesis of new collagen was found in the wounds of hypothyroid rats in which saline-extractable and total soluble fractions of hydroxyproline did not significantly increase during the healing process. Insoluble fractions were higher in the wounds of hypothyroid rats than in normal control animals. It was concluded that biosynthesis, solubility, and overall metabolism of collagen in hypothyroid rats is deficient, under the conditions of this experiment.