The role of vascular endothelial growth factor in wound healing.

Revascularization of damaged tissue is a necessary part of wound healing. With unregulated or insufficient vessel growth, healing is delayed or pathological. Angiogenesis is regulated by expression of a variety of vascular growth factors and modulators, the most widely expressed and critical of which is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This protein is secreted by tissues in response to ischemic and inflammatory stimuli and results in endothelial migration, proliferation, and increased vascular permeability. The regulation of VEGF expression during wound healing is of considerable importance since angiogenesis appears to be disturbed in abnormally healing wounds. This paper describes the current state of knowledge of VEGF expression in wounds, regulation of expression, control of isoform specificity, and the effects of VEGF expression on blood vessels as they grow in wound healing, as understood from many different pathological paradigms.