Elsevier

Journal of Theoretical Biology

Volume 158, Issue 2, 21 September 1992, Pages 135-172
Journal of Theoretical Biology

Continuum model of fibroblast-driven wound contraction: Inflammation-mediation*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5193(05)80715-5Get rights and content

We propose a mathematical model to aid the understanding of how events in wound healing are orchestrated to result in wound contraction. Ultimately, a validated model could provide a predictive means for enhancing or mitigating contraction as is appropriate for managing a particular wound. The complex nature of wound healing and the lack of a modeling framework which can account for both the relevant cell biology and biomechanics are major reasons for the absence of models to date. Here we adapt a model originally proposed by Murray and co-workers to show how cell traction forces can result in spatial patterns of cell aggregates since it offers a framework for understanding how traction exerted by wound fibroblasts drives wound contraction. Since it is a continuum model based on conservation laws which reflect assumed cell and tissue properties, it is readily extended to account for emerging understanding of the cell biology of wound healing and its relationship to inflammation. We consider various sets of assumed properties, based on current knowledge, within a base model of dermal wound healing and compare predictions of the rate and extent of wound contraction to published experimental results.

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  • Cited by (0)

    *

    It was also in part supported (J.D.M.) by grant DMS-900339 from the National Science Foundation.

    Myofibroblasts are mesenchymal cells, perhaps deriving from dedifferentiated fibroblasts in the adjacent dermis, which share the ECM biosynthetic properties of dermal fibroblasts and the extensive actin filament motility system of smooth muscle cells. It is because of the latter property and their common observation in granulation tissue that they were originally proposed to be the cell type underlying wound contraction [Gabbiani et al. (1971); references to the original papers for all of the relevant findings stated here can be found in the review by Skalli & Gabbiani (1988)]. Subsequently, the myofibroblast concentration was reported to be relatively uniform throughout the wound granulation tissue during the time-course of wound contraction and positively correlated with the rate of contraction (McGrath & Hundahl, 1982).

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