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Scanning Electron Microscopy of Healing Wounds

Abstract

ENGINEERING techniques have shown that the apparently “healed” incised skin wound in the rat is weaker and more brittle than unwounded skin up to 5 months after the beginning of healing. Tensile strength increases with time, but there is no tendency for extensibility to recover after the first month1,2. The physical nature of the wound collagen, that is, fibre shape and weave, probably plays an important part in determining these properties3. We therefore decided to look at the structure of the wounds directly to see if this could explain the mechanical findings.

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References

  1. Forrester, J. C., Zederfeldt, B. H., Hunt, T. K., and Dunphy, J. E., Digest Seventh Intern. Conf. Med. and Biol. Eng., Session 27, page 370, Stockholm (1967).

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FORRESTER, J., HUNT, T., HAYES, T. et al. Scanning Electron Microscopy of Healing Wounds. Nature 221, 373–374 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/221373a0

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