The role of opioid receptors in migration and wound recovery in vitro in cultured human keratinocytes and fibroblasts

We have previously described significant changes in skin differentiation and the delay in wound healing from delta-opioid receptor knockout mice. In addition, we have shown that opioid receptor ligands and their receptor systems affect wound healing in vitro and the migration pattern of human skin cells, such as keratinocytes and fibroblasts (Bigliardi-Qi et al., Differentiation 74:174–185, 2006; Bigliardi et al., Exp Dermatol 18:424–430, 2009; Bigliardi et al., J Recept Signal Transduct Res 22:191–199, 2002). This observation is true for both primary keratinocytes and fibroblasts derived from foreskin or normal human skin as well as for immortalized cell lines such as HaCaT cells.