To investigate the effects of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on the proliferation and migration of fibroblasts and its mechanism.

20 diabetic foot wounds and 20 non-diabetic foot normal foot wounds were collected from the Department of Wound Repair, Liyuan Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2018 to December 2018. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of AGEs, Vimentin and β-Catenin in non-diabetic and diabetic foot wound tissue. Prepuce fibroblasts were cultured and identified. Fibroblasts were treated for 48 hours with 0, 100, 300, 500, 1 000, 2 000 μg/L AGEs, 300 μg/L BSA as control group. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), Transwell and Western blotting were performed after treatment and T-test analysis results.

Compared with normal tissues, AGEs in diabetic foot tissues were significantly higher (t=3.564, P<0.05), while Vimentin expression was lower (t=8.325, P<0.05), but the expression of β-Catenin was higher than that in normal tissues (t=5.738, P<0.05). The morphology of the isolated and purified cells was spindle-shaped. Vimentin was expressed in more than 95% of the cells by immunofluorescence assay and identified as fibroblasts. When the concentration of AGEs increased from 100, 300 μg/L to 500, 1 000 μg/L, the proliferation (t=4.336, P_A500/BSA<0.01; t=19.562, P_A1000/BSA<0.01; t=42.373, P_A2000/BSA<0.01; t=5.380, P_A1000/A500<0.01; t=23.726, P_A2000/A1000<0.01) and migration (t=12.117, P_A300/BSA<0.01; t=14.484, P_A500/BSA<0.01; t=21.940 P_A1000/BSA<0.01) ability of fibroblasts decreased gradually, showing a concentration-dependent. In addition, the expression of Wnt3α and Wnt7α in fibroblasts increased significantly after AGEs concentration was added more than 300 μg/L, and the expression of β-Catenin was significantly higher than that in control group, but not in BSA group.

AGEs can decrease the proliferation and migration of fibroblasts, which is related to Wnt/β-Catenin signaling pathway.

Advanced glycation end products; Fibroblasts; Proliferation and migration; Diabetic foot