Clinical Chemistry, Vol 6, 199-207, Copyright © 1960 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Uptake of Radiosulfur During the Healing of Surgical Wounds

¹ Departments of Biochemistry and Surgery, Graduate School and Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago, and the Cook County Hospital.

The feasibility of using the deposition of S³⁵ in wounds as a measure of the rate of healing was investigated by administering isotopically labeled methionine, cystine, or sulfate to surgical patients. It was found that the level of S³⁵ measurable at the surface of the wounds was higher when either methionine-S³⁵ or cystine-S³⁵ was given after wounding than when given before. More S³⁵ was incorporated into the wound tissue when methionine was the source of the isotope than when labeled cystine supplied the S³⁵. About 4-7 times as much S³⁵ was detectable in the regenerating wound tissue within a few days after wounding, compared to S³⁵ detectable in unaltered skin. Only a relatively small amount of sulfate-S³⁵ was taken up by healing wound tissue. These results were obtained by the use of a technic which made it possible to measure repetitively, over a long period, the activity at the surface of the same sample of wound tissue.