ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses wound healing and focuses on the cell biology of inflammatory responses educed by biomaterial implantation along with their effect on the processes of wound healing and biocompatibility. The extent of injury or defect created by the surgical implantation of a biomaterial can significantly affect the wound healing response. The implantation of biomaterials initiates both an inflammatory reaction to injury as well as mechanisms to induce healing. Acute inflammation is of relatively short duration, lasting from minutes to days, depending on the extent of tissue injury caused by the surgical implantation of the biomaterial. Chronic inflammation is characterized by mononuclear cell infiltration, primarily macrophages, lymphocytes, and plasma cells, with proliferation of fibroblasts and connective tissue elements, and capillary neogenesis. The majority of the large fibroblastoid cells in granulation tissue acquire features of smooth muscle cells and are called myofibroblasts.
