Standardized Wound Treatment Protocol

Seven-millimeter-wounds were created as previously described.^{9 (link)} The wounds were treated weekly topically with VLAM or DLAM and covered with Tegaderm™ (3M, St. Paul, MN) to prevent wound contamination. Control wounds were treated with saline normlgel^® (Molnlycke Healthcare, Gothenburg, Sweden) and Tegaderm (3M). Wound photographs were taken weekly before VLAM and DLAM re-application. The wound area was quantified by using ImageJ (NIH, Bethesda, MD). Tissue samples were collected at various time points after wounding by using a 10-mm-diameter biopsy punch. The collected samples were either fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and processed for histological evaluation or flash frozen and stored at −80°C for biochemical, cytokine, and RNA analysis.