Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) promotes wound re-epithelialisation in frog and human skin

There remains a critical need for new therapeutics that promote wound healing in patients suffering from chronic skin wounds. This is, in part, due to a shortage of simple, physiologically and clinically relevant test systems for investigating candidate agents. The skin of amphibians possesses a remarkable regenerative capacity, which remains insufficiently explored for clinical purposes. Combining comparative biology with a translational medicine approach, we report the development and application of a simple ex vivo frog (Xenopus tropicalis) skin organ culture system that permits exploration of the effects of amphibian skin-derived agents on re-epithelialisation in both frog and human skin. Using this amphibian model, we identify thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) as a novel stimulant of epidermal regeneration. Moving to a complementary human ex vivo wounded skin assay, we demonstrate that the effects of TRH are conserved across the amphibian-mammalian divide: TRH stimulates wound closure and formation of neo-epidermis in organ-cultured human skin, accompanied by increased keratinocyte proliferation and wound healing-associated differentiation (cytokeratin 6 expression). Thus, TRH represents a novel, clinically relevant neuroendocrine wound repair promoter that deserves further exploration. These complementary frog and human skin ex vivo assays encourage a comparative biology approach in future wound healing research so as to facilitate the rapid identification and preclinical testing of novel, evolutionarily conserved, and clinically relevant wound healing promoters

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid Axis Hormones Stimulate Mitochondrial Function and Biogenesis in Human Hair Follicles

Thyroid hormones regulate mitochondrial function. As other hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis hormones, i.e., thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and thyrotropin (TSH), are expressed in human hair follicles (HFs) and regulate mitochondrial function in human epidermis, we investigated in organ-cultured human scalp HFs whether TRH (30 nM), TSH (10 mU ml-1), thyroxine (T4) (100 nM), and triiodothyronine (T3) (100 pM) alter intrafollicular mitochondrial energy metabolism. All HPT-axis members increased gene and protein expression of mitochondrial-encoded subunit 1 of cytochrome c oxidase (MTCO1), a subunit of respiratory chain complex IV, mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), and Porin. All hormones also stimulated intrafollicular complex I/IV activity and mitochondrial biogenesis. The TSH effects on MTCO1, TFAM, and porin could be abolished by K1-70, a TSH-receptor antagonist, suggesting a TSH receptor-mediated action. Notably, as measured by calorimetry, T3 and TSH increased follicular heat production, whereas T3/T4 and TRH stimulated ATP production in cultured HF keratinocytes. HPT-axis hormones did not increase reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Rather, T3 and T4 reduced ROS formation, and all tested HPT-axis hormones increased the transcription of ROS scavengers (catalase, superoxide dismutase 2) in HF keratinocytes. Thus, mitochondrial biology, energy metabolism, and redox state of human HFs are subject to profound (neuro-)endocrine regulation by HPT-axis hormones. The neuroendocrine control of mitochondrial biology in a complex human mini-organ revealed here may be therapeutically exploitable.Journal of Investigative Dermatology advance online publication, 15 August 2013; doi:10.1038/jid.2013.286