Nerve outgrowth and neuropeptide expression during the remodeling of human burn wound scars. A 7-month follow-up study of 22 patients.

Unlabelled: Increasing data suggest that the skin nerve system is involved in wound healing. The objective of this study was to investigate the outgrowth of nerve fibers during the burn wound remodeling process and to analyze possible differences between normotrophic and hypertrophic burn wounds. In a prospective study, biopsies were taken from 22 patients with spontaneously healed partial-thickness burns at 1, 4 and 7-month post-burn.

Transforming growth factor-beta(1), -beta(2), -beta(3), basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in keratinocytes of burn scars.

Keratinocytes are increasingly recognized as key regulators of skin inflammation and remodeling, as they are capable of producing growth factors and cytokines that are important mediators in the wound healing process. We investigated the expression and distribution of TGF-beta 1 mRNA by mRNA in situ hybridization and of TGF-beta 1, TGF-beta 2, TGF-beta 3, bFGF and VEGF protein expression using immunohistochemistry in spontaneously healed, partial-thickness burns and compared this with the expression of these markers in matched unburned skin. This was done to assess their role in the remodeling phase of burn wound healing.

Epidermal participation in post-burn hypertrophic scar development.

The reconstruction of epidermal architecture over time in normotrophic and hypertrophic scars in untransplanted, spontaneously healed partial-thickness burns has scarcely been studied, unlike the regeneration of epidermal grafts used to cover burn wounds and the regeneration of the dermis during hypertrophic scarring. The expression of markers of epidermal proliferation, differentiation and activation in normotrophic and hypertrophic scars in spontaneously healed partial-thickness burns was assessed and compared with the expression of these markers in normal control skin of healthy persons to determine whether hypertrophic scarring is associated with abnormalities in the phenotype of keratinocytes. Punch biopsies were taken both of partial-thickness burns after re-epithelialisation and of matched unburned skin.