Washington, May 25: A new study has shed light on how injured skin cells and touch-sensing nerve fibers coordinate their regeneration during wound healing.

UCLA researchers Sandra Rieger and Alvaro Sagasti found that hydrogen peroxide, a chemical signal released by wounded skin cells promotes the regeneration of sensory fibers, thus helping to ensure that touch sensation is restored to healing skin.

They discovered that the reactive oxygen species hydrogen peroxide, which is found at high concentrations at wounds, is a key component of this signal.

To test whether injured skin can promote axon regeneration, Rieger and Sagasti amputated the tip of a larval zebrafish tail and used time-lapse fluorescent microscopy to monitor the behavior of nearby peripheral sensory axons. Amputating the tail boosted axon growth and allowed axons to penetrate regions of the skin that normally repel them.

They also found that damaging skin cells anywhere in the body promoted the regeneration of nearby sensory axons, demonstrating that injured skin cells are the source of the signal. Adding hydrogen peroxide to the media of uninjured larvae mimicked the axon growth-promoting effect of damaging skin cells.

Conversely, preventing the production of hydrogen peroxide blocked the ability of damaged skin to promote axon regeneration. Together these results demonstrate that hydrogen peroxide is a key component of a signal that promotes axon regeneration.

The study was published recently in the open access journal PLoS Biology. (ANI)