Roles of Antioxidative Enzymes in Wound Healing

Since skin is the first barrier separating the body from the external environment, impaired wound healing can be life threatening to living organisms. Delayed healing processes are observed in animals under certain circumstances, such as advanced age, diabetes, and immunosuppression, but the underlying mechanisms of the abnormality remain elusive. Redox homeostasis is defined as the balance between the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants in which antioxidative enzymes play central roles in scavenging ROS. In addition to deleterious effects, ROS also exert beneficial functions on some cellular processes such as transducing phosphorylation signaling, but excessive antioxidants may impede the healing process. Hence, strict control over the amounts of antioxidants is desirable when applied for therapeutic purposes. Here we overview recent findings regarding the relationships between antioxidative enzymes and wound healing. Unveiling the role of antioxidative enzymes is expected to contribute to our understanding of the wound healing processes.