Quantitative and qualitative assessment of vascular endothelial growth factor for wound timing

ABSTRACT

The estimation of wound age is an important medicolegal problem. Therefore, the present study had the aim to determine the age of skin wounds by quantitative and qualitative analysis of vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF]. After a full thickness incision was made on the dorsal skin of sixty rats, they were killed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days after incision and the wounds were excised. The harvested wounds were used for quantitative analysis of VEGF using ELISA method. Also, they were stained by hematoxylin and eosin stain for histological estimation and by the streptoavidin-biotinylated peroxidase complex method, using specific antibodies for qualitative assessment of VEGF. Postmortem wounds were done by doing incisions in the skin of ten rats after 24 hours. The histological staining showed that the covering epithelium was completed after 4[th] days, the granulation tissue was mature in the 4[th] day and the collagen tissue was more dense in the 6[th] day. The ELISA result for antemortem wounds was significant from the 1[st] day post wounding and increased gradually till the end of the study. The immunoreactivity of VEGF was detected in cytoplasm of keratinocytes, mononuclear cells and endothelial cells in 1-6 days phases. The maximum staining of keratinocytes was at the 6[th] day and the other cells were at 4[th] day. There were no vital signs in postmortem wounds from the histological or immunohistochemical aspects. Time dependent expression of VEGF emphasized that it would be a beneficial marker for wound age estimation