The Time Course of Cytokine Expressions Plays a Determining Role in Faster Healing of Intestinal and Colonic Anastomatic Wounds

OBJECTIVES: Inflammation is critical in the early phases of wound healing. It has been reported previously that small intestinal and colonic wounds display a more rapid healing than those of other organs. However, the underlying mechanism has not yet been elucidated. Here we examined whether differences in the time course of specified cytokine expression, in colonic and small intestinal anastomotic lesions, might play a major role in this observation in comparison to lesions effecting skin and muscle tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tissue lesions were applied to 36 male Sprague–Dawley rats. Tissue samples were harvested at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days postoperatively with the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IFN-α determined by ELISA-derived methods. RESULTS: The characteristics of TNF-α, IL-6, and IFN-α expression during the healing process for intestinal and colonic lesions were comparable. However, data differed significantly with that observed during healing of skin and muscle lesions. Intestinal and colonic lesions exhibited a significant and sustained increase in specified cytokine levels on day 5 to day 14 as compared with day 1 and 3. Skin and muscle lesions had random or unaltered cytokine levels throughout the study period. CONCLUSION: Differences in expression of cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IFN-α indicate that these play an important role underlying the more rapid healing processes observed in small intestinal and colonic lesions.