An In Vivo Mouse Excisional Wound Model of Scarless Healing
June 2006
in “
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
”
TLDR Mice healed without scars as fetuses but developed scars as adults, suggesting scarless healing might be replicated with further research.
In 2006, researchers developed a mouse model to study scarless wound healing by creating 1-mm excisional wounds on mouse fetuses at gestational days 16.5 and 18.5, and comparing them to 2-mm open wounds on 3-week-old postnatal mice. They found that wounds on day 16.5 fetuses healed within 48 hours with no scarring and hair follicle regeneration, while day 18.5 fetuses and postnatal mice developed scars without hair follicle regeneration. The study concluded that the mouse model is effective for studying scarless healing and that manipulating scarring in adults to mimic fetal healing is possible. The research also indicated that scarless healing involves multiple cytokines and signaling molecules, and future work will focus on identifying specific skin genes for targeted manipulation to achieve scarless healing. The study was supported by various medical and research institutions.
