Skin is a vital part of our body because of the protection it provides to our body from the outside world. Furthermore, have you ever wondered what actually happens when the skin is damaged and needs to be healed? Professor Cédric Blanpain from , Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium along with Professor Benjamin Simmons from Cambridge, United Kingdom analyzed the process of wound healing by performing different experiments that concluded that there are two types of cells responsible for the healing .Libre de Bruxelles, University (2012, September 3). Newly identified stem cell population in skin’s epidermis responsible for tissue repair.
What began as an experiment to monitor the life cycle and preservation of the epidermis, led to an exposing of two dividing cells. The first is slow-cycling stem cells which perform most of the healing of the epidermis, and a unique characteristic of these cells is the ability to extend over large distances. Furthermore, it does not have to be at the exact site of the wound in order to treat it. This fact amazed Professor Blanpain so much that he said, ” It was amazing to see these long trails of cells coming from a single stem cell located at a very long distance from the wound to repair the epidermis”. The other type of cells that were exposed are the progenitors cells which do normal repairs. These cells are active only at the site of the damaged tissue because they are unable to expand, and provide quick minor healing.
Knowing that there are two different cells working together to heal a wound can help doctors and researchers find out why some wounds heal faster than others and why some wounds leave scars and others don’t. Further study in this subject can lead to more efficient treatments for those that have been severely burn or cut. Regenerative medicine could be revolutionized because of the fact that each of the two cells described above have unique functions, and researching further qualities of each can lead to more effective medicine.