Physicochemical properties of extracellular matrix proteins in post-burn human granulation tissue

Wound healing is a finely controlled biological process involving a series of complex cellular interactions. Following inflammation, the wound bed mat rix is gradually replaced by granulation tissue followed by the long slow p rocess where collagen accumulates and restores tensile strength. The studie s revealed that human granulation tissue varied in many aspects in comparis on with normal skin. In granulation tissue the molecular organization of co llagen showed an increased amount of type III collagen resembling embryonic tissue. The presence of type V collagen with three distinct chains was the characteristic feature of granulation tissue. The physicochemical properti es of collagen extracted from granulation tissue showed the influence of pr oteoglycans during collagen aggregation and these proteoglycans form the ma jor non-collagenous proteins during the proliferative phase of healing. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.