Comparison of EGF and bFGF Expression In Vivo and their Effect In Vitro

Oral mucosal wound healed faster and with minimal scar formation compared with dermal wounds. The present study tried to found useful information in scarless oral wound healing process. This study firstly evaluated the effect of EGF and bFGF on the proliferation and migration of isolated fibroblasts from oral mucosa and skin. Then a liner wound was made in SD rats on transplanted oral mucosa and control skin. In vitro study found that both bFGF and EGF could promote the migration of dermal fibroblasts but not for oral fibroblasts. The oral fibroblasts proliferation was more sensitive to different concentrations of EGF, while bFGF had no significant effect on cell proliferation in this experiment. Our in vivo results demonstrated that oral mucosal wound healed with minimal scar after transplanting to skin and expressed higher EGF. No regular bFGF expression was found either on the transplanted oral mucosal or dermal wound. The results suggested that oral mucosa healed with minimal scar mainly due to its inherent cell phenotypes. The results also suggested the important role of EGF played in scar formation. The ultimate goal of this study is to apply this knowledge to find new ways to reduce scar formation in dermal wound.