Since the cells from last time didn't grow to full density, new cells had to be grown. This took about a week. Now, the experimental set-up remains the same as previously stated: scratch assays will be used to observe the effects of arsenic and estrogen in a wound. Theoretically, the arsenic contaminated wounds should take longer to close than the control, while the estrogen treated wounds should close around the same time as the control.
I have to pause here and give credit to Bronson and Oscar. I would love to say that I performed this experiment, but let's be real here, that did not happen. Together, they did the work while I sat back and observed (but don't worry, I took notes). Now just as before, we had to check the growth density of our cells. Fortunately, nothing was stopping us this time! From here on, the actual step by step process of what happened is not worth noting, but here's a summary: The cells were moved from their original container to a "plate" consisting of 12 different wells. Since the plate can be divided into 3 rows, each row represented a different variable (control, arsenic contamination, and estrogen treatment of arsenic contaminated wounds). Once all of this was taken care of, Bronson scratched the cells with a pipette tip. From there, the wells were placed in the incubator to grow. And then we waited.
Every 4 hours, over a 20 hour time period, photos where taken of the wells. The results:
So as expected, the arsenic contamination slowed the wound closure. But, as shown above, estrogen treatment almost reversed the contamination's obstruction to the healing process. Now that's pretty cool.
-Tudor
Edit: I almost forgot...all of this started at 6 in the morning. Bronson...
Has anyone ever tried estrogen alone? Would extra estrogen help a wound heal faster or more aesthetically?
ReplyDeleteGreat question, yes a few other research groups have shown that estrogen by itself helps wounds heal. This is partly what gave us the idea to try it in our research.
ReplyDelete