How does wound healing work

With small wounds?

With bigger wounds in people?
What are they?
No universally acceptable definition
Growing understanding of circumstances
term can be used
Modern definition:
Cells that are capable of dividing indefinitely
Can become any type of cell
Bizzozero (1894)
Relates to adults rather than embryos
Three types:
Renewing (intestinal epithelium)
Expanding (liver)
Static (neurons)
Neurogenesis have been shown to occur
in the production of olfactory nerves in
adults
Stem cells (in both adults and embryos)
can:
Multiply without experiencing senescence
Self-renew
undifferentiated
These stem cells can eventually form
cells that are function-specific (or
differentiated)
E.g.: cardiac muscle vs. skeletal muscle
E.g.: epithelial cells vs. osteoblasts
Refers to non-stem cells inability to keep
multiplying indefinitely
There is a limited number of times a cell
can divide before it cant divide
anymore.
Referred to as the Hayflick Limit
Why is this important?
It controls the rate of growth
It also is important for specific organs to
develop
E.g.: the heart and the circulatory system are
the first things to develop
As a cell becomes more and more
diffrentiated, it becomes less and less
pluripotent
Regeneration of some invertebrates
Hydra
Planaria
Regeneration in ampibians
No regeneration occurs during wound
healing
The formation of multiple tissues during
wound healing is consistent with the
concept that mammals possess a limited
ability to heal from damage
Multistep process
Consists of:
Blood clots and hematoma
Prevents blood loss
Immune cell invasion and inflammation
Prevents infection and removes tissue debris
Recruitment of neighboring cells in
surrounding tissues
Forms a repair blastema
In the blastema
New tissues re-form
To regenerate the site of the original wound
The blastema has two functions
Provide elements of protection from the
outside environment
Establish a focus of regenerative cells
There exists differences in wound repair
in mammals and amphibians


Both require the presence of growth factors
to enable effective repair.
Amphibians require the wounded limb be
innervated before regeneration (Brockes,
1997)
Mammalian wound healing and scar
formation depends on
the age of the individual
Availability of growth factors from the TGF-b
superfamily
Shah et al., 1997
Many of the steps involved in tissue
repair are almost identical to the steps in
early development
E.g.: the formation of bone during a fracture
Accumulation of calcified cartilage at site of
injury that is eventually replaced with bone
Similar to how bones are formed in a fetus
Why arent there people who can heal
like a certain member of the X-men?
What would happen if we experienced
a cut, was able to undergo the process
of wound healing, but we were unable
to stop it? What is this condition called?
Look up the MRL strain of mice (MRL =
Murphy-Roths Large)