Fig. 6

Mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of PTMH in impaired wound healing. (A) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on the differentially expressed genes in the wound tissues of the mice subjected to treatment with PTMH (PTMH group) or PBS (Control group). Each data point within the two groups represents an independent replicate. (B) Venn diagram was constructed based on the transcriptomic data to illustrate the overlap between the two groups. (C) Volcano plots were generated to visualize the genes that were upregulated and downregulated after PTMH treatment. (D) KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes (downregulation). (E) Heatmaps illustrating the noteworthy downregulation of genes implicated in inflammation and oxidative stress subsequent to PTMH treatment. (F) KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes (upregulated). (G) Chord diagram showing the genes involved in inflammation and oxidative stress that were significantly upregulated following PTMH treatment. (H) Relative expression of genes involved in inflammation and wound regeneration. Data in h represent the mean ± standard deviation from three independent replicates (n = 3). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; n.s., no significance; t-test. PTMH, programmed time-released multifunctional hydrogel; PCA, principal component analysis; IL, interleukin; KEGG, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; ECM, extracellular matrix; Nod1, nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing 1