RÉSUMÉ
Objective To observe the changes of MMP-1 and TIMP-1 expression in the pathological scar tissue after scar-skin replantation and to explore the mechanism of treating pathological scars with scar-skin replantation through a rabbit ear model.Methods Rabbit ears were used to establish the hypertrophic scar animal model in this study.Specimens were taken for three times:normal skin,hypertrophic scar and scar-skin replantion separately.We then performed HE staining,Masson staining and immunohistochemical staining to observe the expression of MMP-1 and TIMP-1 in these three groups of specimens.Results The expression of both MMP-1 and TIMP-1 significantly increased in the hypertrophic scar tissue after scar-skin replantation compared with the control group (P＜0.01).The expression of MMP-1 increased more significantly than that of TIMP-1 (P＜0.01).Conclusions The mechanism of scar-skin replantation's effect in the treatment for hypertrophic scar is relevant to the imbalance in the interaction between MMP-1 and TIMP-1 in the scar tissue.