Faster Wound Healing in Psoriasis and Why ?
- Central to that is calcium regulation which allows changes in cellular differentiation. The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is important for this and is abnormally expressed in psoriasis lesions.
- In this study, the speed of wound healing is suggested to be faster in psoriasis wounds as compared with wounds of unaffected individuals.
- Psoriasis shares many things in common with wounds in the sense that keratinocytes are encouraged to differentiate rather than proliferate.
- In this study photographs of wound were taken at day 0 and of psoriasis patients (lesional and non-lesional skin) as well as normal skin of unaffected individuals. Biopsies were stained for NMDAR as well as for its subunits.
- Results show a more rapid rate of wound healing in psoriasis patients (both lesional and non-lesional skin)
- On immunohistochemistry:
- there is down regulation of the NR2D subunit in the basal cell layer of uninvolved and uninvolved skin of psoriasis subjects
- Conversely there is higher staining of NR2D in the normal skin of unaffected individuals
- Conclusion: there is accelerated wound healing in psoriasis lesions perhaps because there is an alteration (down regulation) of subunits of NMDAR.
Contributors
Dr Christophe Hsu – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland
Source of information: The rate of wound healing is increased in psoriasis. Morhenn VB, Nelson TE, Gruol DL. J Dermatol Sci. 2013 Nov;72(2):87-92.
