Comparison of Growth Factor Expression in Fetal and Adult Fibroblasts

Abstract

Background: Fetal wounds can heal without any histological evidence of scarring. Fetal wounds lack the inflammatory infiltrate characteristic of adult wounds, and the fetal environment is not necessary for scarless healing to occur. Recent evidence suggests that fibroblasts are the main effector of scarless healing in fetal tissue. What has not been shown is what profile of growth factors the fibroblast uses to influence wound repair.

Fetal Skin Possesses the Ability to Regenerate Completely: Complete Regeneration of Skin

“…59 Adult fibroblasts show higher expression of TGF-β1 than fetal fibroblasts do. 60 Collagen gel contraction by IL-1β stimulation is significantly lower in fetal fibroblasts. 61 The tyrosine kinase Shc is expressed in fetal fibroblasts, whereas it is not expressed in adult fibroblasts.…”

Growth factor regulation and manipulation in wound repair: to scar or not to scar, that is the question

“…In fact, the presence of inflammatory cells in the foetal wound is associated with increased scar formation [73,85,88,89]. Foetal fibroblasts have been shown to express growth factor mRNA [90] and this growth factor production may be sufficient for an efficient healing process in the absence of scarring. Furthermore, foetal fibroblasts were shown to express higher levels of TGF-β receptors, indicating that these cells may be adapted to respond to injury effectively in the absence of high levels of macrophage-derived growth factors [89].…”

The CXC chemokine cCAF stimulates precocious deposition of ECM molecules by wound fibroblasts, accelerating development of granulation tissue

“…The presence of small amounts of serum in the culture medium mimics the conditions of the healing adult wounds, where serum factors are more abundant than in normal tissue. When exposed to these factors, embryonic wounds heal in the same manner, with scarring, as adult wounds do [21,22]. …”