Fetal wound healing

Abstract

Fetal skin repair has attracted attention of many researchers. The fetal wound healing is unique because fetal skin wounds are repaired rapidly and without scarring. In this review, a study was conducted concerning the healing process in fetal skin compared to the repair after birth. The physiological response to skin lesions after birth is scarring. In comparison fetuses in early stages of gestation respond to the same degree of damage with complete regeneration of the skin. To explain the different outcome, several factors such as increased production of collagen III by fetal fibroblasts and the increased presence of this type of collagen in the skins of fetuses have been considered. The increased amount of hyaluronic acid in the fetal matrix is correlated to the greater capacity of migration of fibroblasts in scarless repair. Myofibroblasts arise in the wound over the 24th week of pregnancy when scars begin to be formed. In addition, there is an increase in the amount of adhesion molecules in the scarless repair, which would enhance cell adhesion and migration. Lower levels of fetal wounds bTGF1 can be correlated to the reduced amount of type I collagen and may be the result of higher relative expression of bTGF3, which down regulate bTGF1. Hypoxic environment of the fetus wound and the increased amount of fetal Dot blood cells can be claimed to explain the difference in the repair process. Distinct gene expressions guide these responses and may also help elucidate the scarless fetal skin regeneration