Absence of inhibition of cutaneous wound healing in mice by oral doxycycline

Temporally controlled expression of genes in transgenic mice has advanced our understanding of many physiological processes. One of the more common modes of acutely altering gene levels involves the doxycycline-regulated "tet-on/tet-off" systems. There has been concern that the administration of doxycycline in itself might compromise many aspects of wound repair. Here we report that oral ad libitum administration of doxycycline (2 mg/ml in drinking water) to mice does not alter dermal or epidermal wound healing. The healing of both full- and partial-thickness skin wounds proceeded similarly regardless of doxycycline administration; in fact, collagen organization and tensile strength development appeared to accelerate in the presence of doxycycline. These data suggest that wound healing studies incorporating transgene expression can utilize tet-on/tet-off regulation of gene expression without interference from doxycycline.