Extracellular matrix components of oral mucosa differ from skin and resemble that of foetal skin.

Objective: Wounds of both the oral mucosa and early-to-mid gestation foetuses have a propensity to heal scarless. Repair of skin wounds in adults, however, regularly results in scar formation. The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an important role in the process of healing. The fate of scarless or scar forming healing may already be defined by the ECM composition, prior to wounding. In this study, the presence of several ECM components in oral mucosa (palatum) and skin was investigated.

Design: Immunohistochemical stainings of different ECM components were performed on skin, obtained from abdominal dermolipectomy surgery, and oral mucosa, derived after pharynx reconstruction.

Results: Expression of fibronectin, its splice variant ED-A, and chondroitin sulphate was elevated in oral tissue, whereas elastin expression was higher in skin. Tenascin-C, hyaluronic acid, biglycan, decorin, and syndecan-1 were expressed at similar levels in both tissues. Oral mucosa contained more blood vessels than skin samples. Finally, oral keratinocytes proliferated more, while dermal keratinocytes demonstrated higher differentiation.

Conclusions: Comparing ECM components of the skin and oral mucosa coincides with differences earlier observed between foetal and adult skin, and this might indicate that some ECM components are involved in the mode of repair.