Rat skin wound healing induced by alternagin-C, a disintegrin-like, Cys-rich protein from Bothrops alternatus venom.

Alternagin-C (ALT-C) is a disintegrin-like, Cys-rich protein isolated from Bothrops alternatus snake venom, which has been shown to induce in vivo angiogenesis. Therefore, this protein could be interesting as a new approach for tissue regeneration studies. Here the effects of ALT-C on fibroblasts and inflammatory cells, collagen type III and type I and TGF-α expression in a rat wounded skin model were studied. Thirty-five male Wistar rats (weight 270 ± 20 g) were divided into seven groups with five animals in each of the following groups: a control group which wounded animals received treatment with natrozol(®) gel only; ALT-C10, ALT-C60 and ALT-C100 groups of wounded animals that were treated with the same amount of gel containing 10, 60 and 100 ng of ALT-C, respectively. Animals were treated once a day with 20 µl of gel associated or not with ALT-C for 1, 3, 5 or 7 days. ALT-C treatment increased the fibroblast density, collagen deposition and accelerated the inflammatory process, mostly in the ALT-C60 group. These results indicate that ALT-C improves wound repair process in rat skin. Thus, ALT-C could be a candidate to the development of a novel therapeutic strategy for wounded skin repair.