Effect of dietary thiamine on intermolecular collagen cross-linking during wound repair: a mechanical and biochemical assessment.

Biochemical and mechanical experiments were conducted to determine the effect of dietary thiamine on collagen maturation during wound repair. The breaking strength of excised wounds, the isometric shrink tension of skin, and the lysyl oxidase activity of normal and repairing skin were determined. Rats were divided into three dietary groups and fed either a thiamine-deficient diet (-B1), a thiamine-deficient diet supplemented with 1 mg thiamine-HCl (+B1) or a thiamine-deficient diet supplemented with 3 mg thiamine-HCl (+3B1). When -B1 rats were demonstrated to be deficient in urinary thiamine, all animals were wounded. Ten days after wounding the animals were killed and the tissues harvested. Significant differences were observed in lysyl oxidase activity between -B1 and +B1 in both wounded and unwounded tissue, and in isometric shrink tension between -B1, +B1, and breaking strength between all three dietary treatment groups. The changes observed in this study demonstrate a definite involvement of thiamine in wound repair and scar development.