Original title: Immunology of Wound Healing
A wound heals through stages: stopping blood loss, inflammation, rebuilding, and remodeling into a scar. Neutrophils arrive early, then die and are cleared by macrophages, a process called efferocytosisThe process by which cells, such as macrophages, engulf and clear dying cells.. That clearing helps macrophages shift toward a state that supports repair, including new blood vessels and granulation tissueNew tissue that forms in a healing wound.. The review focuses on how disruption of the shift from inflammation to rebuilding can leave wounds unable to heal.
Imagine cleaning up after a messy meal so you can set the table for the next one. If the scraps stay on the table, there is no clear space to prepare what comes next. In this paper, clearing away dying early responders helps the wound move from inflammation toward rebuilding.
Chronic wounds can cause serious illness and place a heavy burden on healthcare. Understanding how immune cells help a wound switch from inflammation to rebuilding may clarify why some wounds keep failing to heal.
The abstract describes a review of immune cells and signals involved in wound healing, with emphasis on the shift from inflammation to proliferation. It does not report a specific treatment, patient study, or evidence that changing this transition will heal chronic wounds.
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Immunology of Wound Healing — Samantha R. Ellis, Elaine J. Lin, Danielle Marie Tartar — Current Dermatology Reports — doi:10.1007/s13671-018-0234-9
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.