Molecular Biology of Wound Healing: The Conditioning Phenomenon

TLDR: This chapter discusses the molecular biology of wound healing, which leads to a transient disorganization of the membrane systems of the cell that induces the switching on of genes and the synthesis of various enzymes.

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the molecular biology of wound healing. The necessity of a wound for tumorigenesis was initially conceived of in terms of an entrance site for the invading bacteria. Wounding clearly removes mechanical barriers for the approach of the bacteria. It normally destroys a number of cells, the residues of which accumulate at the wound site and could be a factor in wound response of the adjacent living cells as well as in bacterial metabolism. Treatment of small wounds with wound sap appears to stimulate the development of tumors. Although the cells of the various plant species cytologically react quite differently to wounding, their metabolic reactions are quite similar and rather uniform. A series of primary events after wounding leads to a transient disorganization of the membrane systems of the cell. As a consequence, some blocked metabolic pathways are unblocked and reactions are set into motion that induces the switching on of genes and the synthesis of various enzymes.