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Basic knowledge of cellular activities is important for
the understanding of the wound-healing process.
To simplify the complex series of inter-related cellular
processes, wound healing is conventionally divided into inflammation, proliferation and maturation (Figure 1).
The three stages do not occur in isolation; considerable
overlap occurs between them. The time required for
an individual wound to progress into the next stage of
healing differs hugely.
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Figure 1: The temporal changes of the major cell types in a healing wound – neutrophils, macrophages, fibroblasts and myofibroblasts – are depicted. Each
stage of wound healing involves cellular events such as adhesion to the ECM, signalling, biosynthesis of macromolecules, migration, division, and differentiation.
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