Abstract
BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a long-term metabolic disease accompanied by difficulties in wound healing placing a severe financial and physical burden on patients. As one of the important signal transduction molecules, both endogenous and exogenous hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) was found to promote diabetic wound healing in recent studies. H(2)S at physiological concentrations can not only promote cell migration and adhesion functions, but also resist inflammation, oxidative stress and inappropriate remodeling of the extracellular matrix. AIM OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to summarize current research on the function of H(2)S in diabetic wound healing at all stages, and propose future directions. KEY SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS OF REVIEW: In this review, first, the various factors affecting wound healing under diabetic pathological conditions and the in vivo H(2)S generation pathway are briefly introduced. Second, how H(2)S may improve diabetic wound healing is categorized and described. Finally, we discuss the relevant H(2)S donors and new dosage forms, analyze and reveal the characteristics of many typical H(2)S donors, which may provide new ideas for the development of H(2)S-released agents to improve diabetic wound healing.