LIGHT MICROSCOPICAL STUDY OF HEALING INCISED DERMAL WOUNDS IN RATS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EOSINOPHIL LEUKOCYTES AND TO COLLAGENOUS FIBERS OF PERIWOUND AREAS

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 58  (6) , 581-605
Abstract
Incised wounding of rat skin had a significant effect on number of eosinophils within the scar and in adjacent areas. The numbers increased, after the inflammatory phase, to a peak between the 7th and 12-14th days after wounding and remained elevated for the rest of the 30 day experimental period. In the areas contiguous to wounds, dense bundles of collagenous fibers characteristic of normal dermis became progressively more dispersed from day 3-14 and then gradually reaggregated into bundles. The fact that eosinophils, which are known to be collagenolytic, increase in numbers and change in morphology at the same time as newly formed scar collagen is remodelled and fibers around wounds are aggregated indicates a role for these cells in connective tissue metabolism. The dispersion of collagenous fibers in areas around wounds which occurs before the rise in eosinophil numbers could be related to the known increase in sulfated glycosaminoglycans around incised wounds.

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