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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.

Sec. Integrative and Regenerative Pharmacology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1656302

Serotonin-Modulating Therapies for the Management of Chronic Wounds

Provisionally accepted
Anuj BudhirajaAnuj Budhiraja1Alisha MehtaAlisha Mehta1Johanna Ghebrehiwet-KuflomJohanna Ghebrehiwet-Kuflom2Christiane How-VolkmanChristiane How-Volkman1Lara AliLara Ali1Sara DahleSara Dahle3Roslyn Rivkah ISSEROFFRoslyn Rivkah ISSEROFF3,4*
  • 1California Northstate University College of Medicine, Elk Grove, United States
  • 2Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, United States
  • 3VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, United States
  • 4University of California Davis, Davis, United States

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Introduction: Chronic wounds are a significant source of patient morbidity, and ineffective treatment can lead 14 to complications that are difficult and costly to manage. Given the limitations of current therapies, repurposing 15 medications with well-studied safety and accessibility profiles offers a promising strategy for advancing 16 wound care. 17 Methods: A comprehensive review of the existing literature was conducted to evaluate the role of serotonin-18 modulating pharmacotherapy in wound healing. 19 Results: Serotonergic signaling plays a multifaceted role in wound healing and evidence increasingly supports 20 serotonin-modulating pharmacotherapy as having favorable angio-regulatory, immunomodulatory, and 21 antimicrobial wound healing effects. Preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that topical 22 administration of serotonin-modulating pharmacotherapy may improve wound healing outcomes. 23 Discussion: The findings of this study provide support for the use of serotonin-modulating pharmacotherapy, 24 with a special focus on topical application, as an adjunctive treatment for chronic, non-healing wounds and 25 highlight the need for further translational clinical investigation.

Keywords: Wound Healing, chronic wounds, Serotonin, Selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor, serotonin-modulating pharmacotherapy

Received: 29 Jun 2025; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Budhiraja, Mehta, Ghebrehiwet-Kuflom, How-Volkman, Ali, Dahle and ISSEROFF. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Roslyn Rivkah ISSEROFF, VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, United States

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material