Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Aging Suppresses Skin-Derived Circulating Sdf1 To Promote Full-Thickness Tissue Regeneration, Mailyn A. Nishiguchi, Casey A. Spencer, Denis H. Y. Leung, Thomas H. Leung

Research Collection School Of Economics

Physicians have observed that surgical wounds in the elderly heal with thinner scars than wounds in young patients. Understanding this phenomenon may reveal strategies for promoting scarless wound repair. We show that full-thickness skin wounds in aged but not young mice fully regenerate. Exposure of aged animals to blood from young mice by parabiosis counteracts this regenerative capacity. The secreted factor, stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF1), is expressed at higher levels in wounded skin of young mice. Genetic deletion of SDF1 in young skin enhanced tissue regeneration. In aged mice, enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and histone H3 lysine 27 …