Human Skin Cells (Fibroblasts,Postnatal)

Effect of the Most Common Wound Antiseptics on Human Skin Fibroblasts

Antiseptics are used for the cleansing of acute or chronic wounds to eliminate micro-organisms from the wound bed. However, they have effects on the skin cells. To determine the effects of hexetidine, povidone-iodine (PI), undecylenamidopropyl-betaine/polyhexanide (UBP), chlorhexidine, disodium eosin and hydrogen peroxide on human skin fibroblasts.

Treatment for 1 min with each antiseptic (hexetidine, PI, UBP, chlorhexidine, disodium eosin or hydrogen peroxide) exerted a significant inhibitory effect on fibroblast viability compared with untreated controls (Fig. 1). The in vitro wound healing assay results (Figs 2 and 3) showed a significant reduction in percentage wound closure compared with controls at 12 h and 24 h after treatment with hexetidine. Cells treated with PI or UBP showed no migration capacity at 12 or 24 h post-treatment, and also exhibited significantly reduced percentage wound closure compared with controls. This assay could not be conducted in fibroblasts treated with chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide or disodium eosin due to the cytotoxicity of the treatment. The above results indicate that all antiseptics significantly reduced the viability of human skin fibroblasts compared with controls.

Formation of Histone Н2АХ Phosphorylation Foci (γH2AX) in Human Skin Fibroblasts

Terahertz (THz) radiation, a non-ionizing radiation (NIR) between 0.3 and 10 THz, has broadened its applications in spectroscopy and microscopy. However, the safety of high-intensity THz radiation is still under discussion, with evidence showing potential cell damage and DNA alterations. Sitnikov et al. investigated the molecular-cellular mechanisms of human skin fibroblasts' reaction to high-intensity pulsed THz radiation.

As previously noted, measuring histone H2AX phosphorylation on serine 139 is a highly sensitive indicator of genotoxicity. In this study, they assessed the number of foci formed in human skin fibroblasts treated with high-intensity THz radiation of various parameters. The immunocytochemical staining results are shown in Fig. 4, with the dotted circle indicating the THz-exposed area. The number of foci varied among cells, likely due to both natural processes (cell cycle state, cellular senescence) and the effect of THz radiation. To account for this, they calculated the relative number of foci per irradiated cell. To minimize variability from different donors, they used cells from the 3rd to 5th passage of the same donor in all experiments.