title: Wound healing in the fetus. Possible role for inflammatory macrophages and transforming growth factor-beta isoforms.
abstract: Macrophages are believed to play a crucial role in wound healing by synthesizing and secreting numerous cytokines. Some of these cytokines, such as transforming growth factor-beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, promote fibrosis and repair. We have shown that macrophages are recruited to sterile fetal wounds and have the potential to regulate repair by synthesizing transforming growth factor-beta(1), transforming growth factor-beta(2), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Transforming growth factor-beta was present in fetal lamb wounds in higher amounts than in adult sheep wounds. Furthermore, the concentrations and ratios of the transforming growth factor-beta isoforms in wounds that healed without scarring were different from those in wounds that scarred; transforming growth factor-beta(2) was highest in fetal wounds that did not scar and lowest in adult wounds. These data suggest that concentrations of transforming growth factor-beta isoforms rather than total transforming growth factor-beta concentration may be important in the regulation of fibrosis in prenatal and postnatal wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Radiobiology and Environmental Health, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Longaker
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Bouhana
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Danielpour
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Banda