The influence of ageing on wound healing of the cricoid.

In young and adult rabbits the effects of one anterior or two bilateral splits of the cricoid were studied. Interruption of the cricoid ring elicits wound healing of the cut edges and induces changes in form and size of the separated parts of the cricoid (indirect effect). It was demonstrated that with increasing age i) the wound healing capacities of the hyaline cartilage is highly diminished or lost and ii) the induced remodelling, involving the total ring in young animals, is in the adult stage confined to the posterior part. Moreover, the observations suggest that dividing the cricoid ring in an anterior and posterior part at a young age can result in a stimulation of growth of the anterior part, in comparison with unoperated control animals.