Signs of capillary formation in the early phase of wound healing in children.
Small silicone rubber tubes containing a standard size viscose cellulose sponge (Cellstic) were implanted in wounds of 23 children at the end of routine surgery. The Cellstics were drawn out of the wounds 1-4 days after implantation. Single cells and cell aggregates, called cell aggregation centers (CAC), were washed out of the Cellstic sponges by the retrograde injection technique, centrifuged, studied histologically and histochemically for cytochrome oxidase activity. Small leukocytic CACs and solitary cells, also including some macrophages and a few endothelial cells, were observed on the first postoperative day. On the second postoperative day and thereafter 2-4 endothelial cells were attached to each other surrounding a lumen. These capillary segment-looking formations (CSF) resembled capillary segments and they were seen both inside and outside the (now larger) CACs. Outside the CACs solitary endothelial cells occasionally exhibited ring-like formations. High cytochrome oxidase activity was observed especially in many CSFs but the solitary and the ring-shaped endothelial cells, in- and outside the CACs, also showed intense oxidative metabolism.
D002196:Capillaries / Q000502:physiology*; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002482:Cellulose; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004322:Drainage / Q000295:instrumentation; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000378:metabolism; D004727:Endothelium / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D012826:Silicone Elastomers; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing
D012826:Silicone Elastomers; D002482:Cellulose; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV