ABSTRACT
The inflammatory process begins following a sublethal injury to tissue and ends with complete healing. Between the onset of injury and healing, a variety of cells are mobilized which undergo changes. While the inflammatory process is a beneficial response by the tissue, the processes associated with inflammation result in pain. Inflammation is quite a damaging event and sometimes leads not to healing, but to morbidity and death. In health, an ordered interaction is maintained between cells, microcirculation, and extracellular fluid and such equilibrium is expressed as normal tissue homeostasis. Physical or chemical stimuli can disturb cellular homeostasis causing injury to the cell. Such disturbances may be transient and rapidly restored or adapted by the cell with no subsequent effects on homeostatic balance. Immediately following injury, hyperemia occurs and it is confined to the site of injury. Hyperemia is followed by a fall in blood velocity and, with mild injury, the development of stasis may take several hours.
