Experimental models for cutaneous hypertrophic scar research

Abstract

Human skin wound repair may result in various outcomes with most of them leading to scar formation. Commonly seen in many cutaneous wound healing cases, hypertrophic scars are considered as phenotypes of abnormal wound repair. To prevent the formation of hypertrophic scars, efforts have been made to understand the mechanism of scarring following wound closure. Numerous in vivo and in vitro models have been created to facilitate investigations into cutaneous scarring and the development of antiscarring treatments. To select the best model for a specific study, background knowledge of the current models of hypertrophic scars is necessary. In this review, we describe in vivo and in vitro models for studying hypertrophic scars, as well as the distinct characteristics of these models. The choice of models for a specific study should be based on the characteristics of the model and the goal of the study. In general, in vivo animal models are often used in phenotypical scar formation analysis, development of antiscarring treatment, and functional analyses of individual genes. In contrast, in vitro models are chosen to pathway identification during scar formation as well as in high-throughput analysis in drug development. Besides helping investigators choose the best scarring model for their research, the goal of this review is to provide knowledge for improving the existing models and development of new models. These will contribute to the progress of scarring studies.