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Review
. 2010 Oct-Dec;6(4):225-33.
doi: 10.4161/org.6.4.12555.

Tissue repair: The hidden drama

Kristine P Krafts  1
Affiliations
Review

Tissue repair: The hidden drama

Kristine P Krafts. Organogenesis. 2010 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

As living beings who encounter every kind of traumatic event from paper cut to myocardial infarction, we must possess ways to heal damaged tissues. While some animals are able to regrow complete body parts following injury (such as the earthworm who grows a new head following bisection), humans are sadly incapable of such feats. Our means of recovery following tissue damage consists largely of repair rather than pure regeneration. Thousands of times in our lives, a meticulously scripted but unseen wound healing drama plays, with cells serving as actors, extracellular matrix as the setting, and growth factors as the means of communication. This article briefly reviews the cells involved in tissue repair, their signaling and proliferation mechanisms, and the function of the extracellular matrix, then presents the actors and script for the three acts of the tissue repair drama.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Skin ulcer showing early-stage granulation tissue with numerous blood vessels and scattered fibroblasts in a loose extracellular matrix. Numerous neutrophils are present within the granulation tissue.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Early granulation tissue with blood vessels in a loose matrix of collagen and fibrin.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Skin ulcer showing later-stage granulation tissue with blood vessels and early collagen deposition.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Early scar formation showing fibrillar collagen, plump fibroblasts and spindle-shaped fibrocytes.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Wide excision of skin. (A) Previous punch biopsy site (center) in late stages of repair. (B) Dense, acellular, normal dermal collagen bundles (bottom) abutting new, still-cellular fibrous tissue of the repair process (top). (C) Blood vessel in process of involution.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Keloid showing dense, haphazardly-arranged collagen bundles.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Proud flesh with exuberant granulation tissue.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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