Time course of wound healing.

Wound healing is a special kind of inflammation. Undisturbed wound healing is subject to a fixed time schedule of biochemical and cellular events. It is virtually impossible to deal with the time course of wound healing without describing the cellular and non-cellular events involved. The activity and mode of cell action after injury are coordinated by spatial and chronological factors, as well as by different mediators and cell-cell interacting signals. During wound healing the sequence of different signals and message substances, such as mediators of inflammation, fulfill a key function in wound repair. The report describes the time course of healing and the control of cellular events by different mediators and cell interactions. Emphasis is placed on temporal aspects, including the various signals leading to typical cellular events in wound healing.