Cotterell A, Griffin M, Downer MA, Parker JB, Wan D, Longaker MT. Understanding wound healing in obesity. World J Exp Med 2024; 14(1): 86898 [PMID: 38590299 DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i1.86898]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Michael T Longaker, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Hagey Laboratory for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine, 291 Campus Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94301, United States. mgriff12@stanford.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Exp Med. Mar 20, 2024; 14(1): 86898 Published online Mar 20, 2024. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i1.86898
Understanding wound healing in obesity
Asha Cotterell, Michelle Griffin, Mauricio A Downer, Jennifer B Parker, Derrick Wan, Michael T Longaker
Asha Cotterell, Michelle Griffin, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94301, United States
Mauricio A Downer, Jennifer B Parker, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94301, United States
Derrick Wan, Michael T Longaker, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Hagey Laboratory for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94301, United States
Author contributions: Cotterell A and Griffin M conceptualized and designed the research; Cotterell A, Griffin M, Downer MA, and Parker JB conducted the investigation and completed the writing of the original draft; Griffin M, Downer MA, Parker JB, Wan D, and Longaker MT reviewed and edited the manuscript; all authors reviewed the final draft.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Michael T Longaker, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Hagey Laboratory for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine, 291 Campus Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94301, United States. mgriff12@stanford.edu
Received: July 13, 2023 Peer-review started: July 13, 2023 First decision: September 19, 2023 Revised: September 30, 2023 Accepted: January 11, 2024 Article in press: January 11, 2024 Published online: March 20, 2024 Processing time: 250 Days and 10.9 Hours
Abstract
Obesity has become more prevalent in the global population. It is associated with the development of several diseases including diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, and metabolic syndrome. There are a multitude of factors impacted by obesity that may contribute to poor wound healing outcomes. With millions worldwide classified as obese, it is imperative to understand wound healing in these patients. Despite advances in the understanding of wound healing in both healthy and diabetic populations, much is unknown about wound healing in obese patients. This review examines the impact of obesity on wound healing and several animal models that may be used to broaden our understanding in this area. As a growing portion of the population identifies as obese, understanding the underlying mechanisms and how to overcome poor wound healing is of the utmost importance.
Core Tip: Obesity induces a chronic low-grade inflammatory state through increased release of adipokines, cytokines, and chemokines from excess adipose tissue. The chronic low-grade inflammation is thought to contribute to a dampened immune response during the inflammatory phase of wound healing leading to delayed wound healing. While there are several animal models used to study wound healing, they have not been widely applied to studying the effects of obesity on wound healing leading to a gap in the literature on this topic.
