Physicochemical properties of extracellular matrix proteins in post-burn human granulation tissue.

Wound healing is a finely controlled biological process involving a series of complex cellular interactions. Following inflammation, the wound bed matrix is gradually replaced by granulation tissue followed by the long slow process where collagen accumulates and restores tensile strength. The studies revealed that human granulation tissue varied in many aspects in comparison with normal skin. In granulation tissue the molecular organization of collagen showed an increased amount of type III collagen resembling embryonic tissue. The presence of type V collagen with three distinct chains was the characteristic feature of granulation tissue. The physicochemical properties of collagen extracted from granulation tissue showed the influence of proteoglycans during collagen aggregation and these proteoglycans from the major non-collagenous proteins during the proliferative phase of healing.