The Effect of γ-glutamyl Transpeptidase Inhibitor on Wound Healing of Oral Mucosa

Abstract

Wound healing in the oral mucosa is clinically distinguished from skin healing in terms of both its rapidity and relatively minimal to no scar formation. However, wound healing failure induces oral function decline. The condition of chronic non-healing wounds induces eating disorders, communication obstacles, and breathing difficulties. These symptoms can be life-threatening as well as reduce patients’ quality of life, and tend to occur in individuals with disabilities and the elderly because of their malformation, dysfunction and immunodeficiency. According to a previous study, GGsTop^®, a γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) inhibitor, suppressed reactive oxygen species and induced the production of collagen and elastin in dermal fibroblasts. In addition, Shimamura et al. reported that GGsTop^® was valuable for the treatment of oral mucositis. We conjectured that GGsTop^® would be useful for oral wound healing, and so studied its effect with/without TGF-β1 in gingival fibroblasts HGF-1. In addition, we demonstrated the efficacy of GGsTop^® on wound healing of palatal mucosa in mice. The cell migration of HGF-1 was enhanced with GGsTop^® by scratch assay. GGsTop^® with TGF-β1 strongly promoted wound healing. The production of TGF-β1 in HGF-1 was enhanced by GGsTop^®, which induced the gene expressions of type I collagen and matrix metalloproteinase 13. However, αSMA gene expression was not enhanced. The wound healing process of palatal mucosa was faster in wild-type mice than in the control. Scarring was not seen. GGsTop^® is considered to be useful for treating oral wound healing.