Figure 3

Tissue protective compounds improve wound healing in a decubitus ulcer (ischemia-reperfusion) model. (A) Recurrent ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) episodes caused by compression of the skin lead to a large necrotic wound that reaches a peak in size by d 5. Animals were subjected to I/R episodes for the first 36 h and then received a first treatment via tail vein. Wound size first measured on d 3 was smallest in animals that received nonerythropoietic tissue protective molecules. The saline group was characterized by a large wound that did not shrink appreciably over the observational period. Although two doses of the tissue protective peptide ARA 290 (with an ~2-min plasma half-life) reduced the initial lesion size at d 3, but no further reduction in size was noted, as compared with the other treatment groups that received daily doses (EPO and ARA 290) or two treatments with a nonerythropoietic tissue protective compound with a longer plasma half-life (CEPO; half-life ~5–6 h). (B) Representative examples of difference at d 8 between wound of a saline-treated animal compared with one having received ARA 290.