Excisional Wound Healing: An Experimental Approach

Wound healing disorders present a serious clinical problem and are likely to increase since they are associated with diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Additionally, increasing life expectancies will cause more people to face such disorders and further aggravate this medical problem. Thus, several animal models have been established to serve as an experimental basis to determine molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying and controlling an undisturbed healing process. Here we describe a model of excisional skin wounding in mice that can be used to assess molecular, cellular, and tissue movements in healthy mice as well as in mouse models characterized by impaired or altered healing conditions such as genetically deficient or transgenic animals. Moreover, we point out that the presented model of excisional skin wounding can be easily adapted from a basic experimental model to a model that deals with more detailed questions of interest.