ReviewNPJ Regenerative medicine2021
Mammals fail to regenerate organs when wound contraction drives scar formation.
Review in NPJ Regenerative medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Priming neuronal regeneration: early adaptive mechanisms in zebrafish CNS injury.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Reimagining Fibrosis Research, Outcomes, and Therapeutics Through the Lens of Resolution.Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine · 2025Review
- [Research progress on collagen secretion mechanisms in scarring].Zhejiang da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Zhejiang University. Medical sciences · 2025Review
- Marine Resources Gels as Main Ingredient for Wound Healing Biomaterials: Obtaining and Characterization.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Dermal Regeneration Template in the Management and Reconstruction of Burn Injuries and Complex Wounds: A Review.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2024Article
- Chronic Wound Healing Models.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2023Article
- Snake venom-defined fibrin architecture dictates fibroblast survival and differentiation.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Healing Mechanisms in Cutaneous Wounds: Tipping the Balance.Tissue engineering. Part B, Reviews · 2022Review
- Mechanical Stretch Induced Skin Regeneration: Molecular and Cellular Mechanism in Skin Soft Tissue Expansion.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Reawakening GDNF's regenerative past in mice and humans.Regenerative therapy · 2022Article
- GDNF neurotrophic factor signalling determines the fate of dermal fibroblasts in wound-induced hair neogenesis and skin regeneration.Experimental dermatology · 2022Article
- Skin biomechanics: a potential therapeutic intervention target to reduce scarring.Burns & trauma · 2022Review
- Review
- Potential of Heparan Sulphate Mimetics Integrated Into Collagen Scaffolds for Enhanced Skin Wound Healing.Wound repair and regeneration : official publication of the Wound Healing Society [and] the European Tissue Repair SocietyArticle
- New insights into balancing wound healing and scarless skin repair.Journal of tissue engineeringReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
To understand why mammals generally do not regenerate injured organs, we considered the exceptional case of spontaneous skin regeneration in the early lamb fetus. Whereas during the early fetal stage skin wounds heal by regeneration, in the late fetal stage, and after birth, skin wounds close instead by scar formation. We review independent evidence that this switch in wound healing response coincides with the onset of wound contraction, which is also enabled during late fetal gestation. The crucial role of wound contraction in determining the wound healing outcome in adults has been demonstrated in three mammalian models of severe injury (excised guinea pig skin, transected rat sciatic nerve, excised rabbit conjunctival stroma) where grafting the injury with DRT, a contraction-blocking scaffold of highly-specific structure, altered significantly the wound healing outcome. While spontaneous healing resulted in scar formation in these animal models, DRT grafting significantly reduced the extent of wound contraction, prevented scar synthesis, and resulted in partial regeneration. These findings, as well as independent data from species that heal spontaneously via regeneration, point to a striking hypothesis: The process of regeneration lies dormant in mammals until appropriately activated by injury. In spontaneous wound healing of the late fetus and in adult mammals, wound contraction impedes such endogenous regeneration mechanisms. However, engineered treatments, such as DRT, that block wound contraction can cancel its effects and favor wound healing by regeneration instead of scar formation.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.