[Characteristics of cicatrization of wounds during the fetal period].

Recent clinical experience on open prenatal surgery in human beings, although scarce, suggests that skin wound healing in the fetus differs from that in adult life. This fact is supported by several experimental studies. Three types of skin wounds have been practiced in a group of thirty 23rd-gestational-day rabbit fetuses: sutured incision, non-sutured incision, and electrocautery burn. Seven days later, the resulting scars were assessed by mechanical and hystological studies. The results obtained were compared with those seen in 30 newborn rabbits and 30 adult rabbits in which the same wounds were carried out. In the fetuses, rupture tension of the sutured wound was 20% of that of the normal skin. A similar relationship was found in the group of adult rabbits. The sutured wounds in the fetuses showed a better macroscopic repair than in older rabbits. However, the non-sutured wounds and burns did not heal in the fetuses, on the contrary, their opening increased from the time of the lesion. These results seem to suggest that wound repair in the fetus is more like a remodeling process than in older ages.