Immobilization‐induced and crowded environment‐induced stress delay barrier recovery in murine skin

Abstract

To examine the effect of stress on skin homeostasis, cutaneous barrier recovery was measured in rate exposed to immobilization stress after tape stripping or sodium dodecyl sulphate treatment. The barrier function was evaluated by measuring transepidermal water loss. Barrier recovery was delayed in rats exposed to stress in comparison with untreated controls. This tendency was observed in both male and female animals. The delay in barrier recovery was blocked by application of the sedative drugs diazepam and chlorpromazine. The barrier recovery rate in mice which were kept at a high population density (10 animals per cage) for 2 weeks was slower than that in mice kept at lower population densities (five animals or one animal per cage). These animal models could be useful for objectively quantifying the influence of stress on the cutaneous function.

Psychological stress and wound healing in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A number of studies using a variety of animal species and stressors report that stress is associated with delayed healing [35,36,73]. Consistent with the human studies, this finding has been reported across different wound models, including punch-biopsy cutaneous wounds and tape-stripped skin [35,36,74,75]. It is interesting that a comparison of the size of the relationship found by this metaanalysis with that reported by a frequently cited animal study investigating the impact of restraint upon the time taken for a cutaneous punch biopsy wound in a murine wound model to heal [73] (r=−0.79 experiment 1, r=−0.94 experiment 2) indicates a stronger negative impact of stress upon wound healing.…”

Physical and Chemical Factors that Improve Epidermal Permeability Barrier Homeostasis

“…To study the effects of stress on barrier homeostasis, we used three models of stress, i.e., immobilization, a crowded environment and a change of living place [Denda 1998] ]. In each case, the barrier recovery rate was delayed after barrier disruption.…”

Study of Active Substances Involved in Skin Dysfunction Induced by Crowding Stress. I. Effect of Crowding and Isolation on Some Physiological Variables, Skin Function and Skin Blood Perfusion in Hairless Mice.

“…8) In addition, recent cutaneous biological studies have revealed that immobilization stress and/or overcrowding stress induced a decrease in lipogenesis in sebaceous glands, delay of skin barrier recovery and disruption of the skin barrier in rats, Syrian hamsters, and/or BALB/c mice. [9][10][11] Barrier function and water retention are important cutaneous functions to maintain homeostasis. However, the relationship between stressful stimuli and skin dysfunction has not been established yet.…”

“…Barrier Disruption, and Evaluation of Barrier Function and Its Recovery Barrier function was evaluated by measuring transepidermal water loss (TEWL) with an electrolytic water analyzer (Tewameter, TM 210 Courage & Khazaka, Germany), as reported previously by Denda et al 10) Mice were fixed in a prone position on day 0, and barrier disruption was achieved once by repeated application (10 times) of cellophane tape (LP-18, Nichiban Co., Ltd., Tokyo) on the back skin. TEWL was measured just before and after barrier disruption, and then for 5 d (from day 0 to day 5).…”