Fig. 5

Nitric oxide in healing irradiated wounds at POD7. A Representative images of iNOS staining on wound sections taken at 20 × magnification depicted per condition (left). iNOS staining revealed increased iNOS in DFO-treated wounds (mean 229.1) relative to that observed in vehicle (64.3;***p < 0.001) and IR untreated wounds (71.0;***p < 0.001). DFO iNOS quantification was comparable to nonirradiated wounds (210.4; p > 0.05). B Nitric oxide colorimetric assay normalized to nonirradiated wounds revealed DFO wounds had similar nitric oxide levels (1.051) in wounds at POD7 compared to nonirradiated wounds (1.00; p > 0.05). NO was lower in vehicle (0.74;***p < 0.001) and control (0.69;***p < 0.001) irradiated wounds relative to DFO treated nonirradiated wounds. Scale bar = 50 μm. iNOS: inducible nitric oxide synthase; IR: irradiation; DFO: deferoxamine; POD: post-operative day; NO: nitric oxide; ns: not significant