Fetal wound healing - Current perspectives

Early in gestation, fetal cutaneous wounds heal scarlessly. Since the discovery of this phenomenon, an extensive research effort has been conducted to discern the mechanisms of scarless repair. We have since learned that scarless repair is an intrinsic feature of fetal skin that is lost prior to birth. More precisely, healing without scar formation can be attributed to specific features of fetal wound cells, including differences in extracellular matrix and cytokine gene expression, compared with the adult. No significant wound acute inflammatory infiltrate occurs during scarless repair and there is little expression of profibrotic cytokines. We believe that scrutiny of the processes that govern scarless healing in the fetus may lead to better therapies for the amelioration of scar.