Wound Healing

In contrast, the fetus in the mild-gestational period heals cutaneous wounds without scarring by regeneration of the normal dermal architecture, including restoration of dermal appendages and neurovasculature, in all mammalian species. This period of regenerative healing is followed by a transitional period in which wounds heal with a normal extracellular matrix but fail to regenerate its dermal appendages. Lastly, near the end of gestation, progression to the postnatal phenotype exists in which wounds heal with an excess of collagen, a loss of dermal appendages and a flattened epidermis.