Contraction potency of hypertrophic scar-derived fibroblasts in a connective tissue model: in vitro analysis of wound contraction.

Many investigators have reported that collagen gel contraction reflects the mechanism of wound contraction. By using a connective tissue model (CTM) of collagen gel lattice, we analyzed the contraction potency of fibroblasts that had been obtained from hypertrophic scar, normal skin, and normal oral mucosa. We then tried to analyze the mechanism of CTM contraction by immunofluorescent microscopic and transmission electron microscopic examinations. Hypertrophic scar-derived fibroblasts in CTM possessed the greatest contraction potency and the shortest lag time when compared with those of normal skin and normal oral mucosa-derived CTMs. It became clear that the initial contractive degree of CTM was closely related to morphological changes of fibroblast cells into bipolar and elongated shapes. Hypertrophic scar-derived fibroblasts elongated their processes faster, and their intracellular actin filaments were more numerous than those of normal fibroblasts. We believe that the hypertrophic scar-derived CTM is a useful pathological model for the research of wound contraction and hypertrophic scar formation.