Wound Healing Studies in Transgenic and Knockout Mice: A Review

Wound healing is a highly ordered and well coordinated process that involves inflammation, cell proliferation, matrix deposition, and tissue remodeling (1 ). During the past few years, a series of candidate key players in the wound-healing scenario have been identified. These include not only a variety of different growth factors and cytokines, but also molecules that are involved in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and proteins responsible for cell stability and cell migration. In most cases, the suggested function of these molecules is based on descriptive expression studies and/or functional in vitro studies. By contrast, their in vivo function in wound repair has been poorly defined.