Wound healing kinetics of the genetically diabetic mouse

The increased number of chronic nonhealing wounds mirrors the epidemic of type 2 diabetes. Diabetic animal models may allow for better understanding of the pathophysiology of wound healing and may lead to the pre-clinical testing of a variety of therapeutic modalities for this patient group. The authors present an overview of the literature on excisional wound mouse models and focus on the authors' experience with the db/db mouse. Excisional wounds in wild type mice heal quickly due primarily to wound contraction, which is delayed in the db/db mouse. In this animal model it is possible to study and quantify the main mechanisms of healing and produce highly reproducible information. Differences in methodologies, infection control, as well as fine details such as the dressing option, partially explain heterogeneous results in the literature. Given the increase of the diabetic population, the db/db mouse model provides a powerful tool to study the effects of therapeutics for improving wound healing. The standardization of this animal model represents an important aspect to improve in the wound care field.