ABSTRACT
The epithelial wound-healing process is a complex series of overlapping events in which communication between cells is required to orchestrate their behavior. Injury of any tissue results in a rapid inŽammatory response, which in the case of skin lesions, attracts neutrophils as the Ÿrst line of cell defence to combat bacterial infection and prevent sepsis. Release of proinŽammatory signals in and around the wound site attracts macrophages and other phagocytes, which clear up the debris
15.1 Introduction ................................................................................................308 15.2 Connexins in the Skin.................................................................................309 15.3 Connexin Dynamics and the Epidermal Response to Skin Wounding ........310 15.4 InŽammation and the Dermal Response to Skin Wounding ...................... 311 15.5 Effects of Transient Cx43 Knockdown on Skin InŽammation and
Wound Healing ........................................................................................... 312 15.6 Connexin Responses and Effects of Cx43 Knockdown on Skin
Thermal Injuries ......................................................................................... 314 15.7 Effects of Cx43asODNs on the Cell Biology of Skin Wound Healing ....... 316 15.8 Connexin Expression and Manipulation in Diabetic Skin Wounds ........... 318 15.9 Psoriatic Skin Lesions: A Chronic InŽammatory Nonhealing Condition ...... 321 15.10 Connexins in the Cornea ............................................................................ 321 15.11 Connexin Dynamics in the Cornea in Response to Wounding .................. 322 15.12 Effects of Mimetic Peptides on Skin Wound-Healing Models .................. 323 15.13 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................. 325 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 326 References .............................................................................................................. 326
in the wound. In skin wounds it has long been thought that a robust inŽammatory response is required to trigger the healing process and to mobilize Ÿbroblasts and keratinocytes to crawl forward and close the wound. In the avascular cornea of the eye, inŽammatory cells may migrate from the peripheral limbal vessels or tear Ÿlm, and stromal keratocytes differentiate into myoŸbroblasts to repair connective tissue. While much of the research into cell signaling in epithelial wound healing has concentrated on the contribution of growth factors and cytokines to the healing process, we have focused on a novel form of cell signaling in wound healing mediated by gap junctions and hemichannels, which are composed of proteins called “connexins.”
