Wound Healing in Channel Catfish by Epithelialization and Contraction of Granulation Tissue

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Abstract
We studied the process of wound healing by contraction of granulation tissue in channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus from which surgically implanted dummy transmitters had been expelled through midventral abdominal incisions. Here we describe histological details on the nature of second-intention wound healing, rate of healing, and the nature of granulation tissue contraction. At the time of expulsion, the wound margins were connected by highly vascular granulation tissue; the granulation tissue was not epithelialized until 6 d postexpulsion. By 16 d postexpulsion, the granulation tissue had contracted the wound margins into apposition. By 41–43 d postexpulsion, the granulation tissue contained collagen fibers, and the epidermis contained well-differentiated alarm substance cells. The epidermis over the wound site was histologically normal in most fish by 41–43 d postexpulsion. The dermal collagen at the incision site was only slightly less regular than normal when the experiment ended 93 d postex...