The microbiome in wound repair and tissue fibrosis - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

. 2013 Jan;229(2):323-31.

doi: 10.1002/path.4118. Epub 2012 Nov 29.

Affiliations

Review

The microbiome in wound repair and tissue fibrosis

Brittan S Scales et al. J Pathol. 2013 Jan.

Abstract

Bacterial colonization occurs in all wounds, chronic or acute, and the break in epithelium integrity that defines a wound impairs the forces that shape and constrain the microbiome at that site. This review highlights the interactions between bacterial communities in the wound and the ultimate resolution of the wound or development of fibrotic lesions. Chronic wounds support complex microbial communities comprising a wide variety of bacterial phyla, genera, and species, including some fastidious anaerobic bacteria not identified using culture-based methods. Thus, the complexity of bacterial communities in wounds has historically been underestimated. There are a number of intriguing possibilities to explain these results that may also provide novel insights into changes and adaptation of bacterial metabolic networks in inflamed and wounded mucosa, including the critical role of biofilm formation. It is well accepted that the heightened state of activation of host cells in a wound that is driven by the microbiota can certainly lead to detrimental effects on wound regeneration, but the microbiota of the wound may also have beneficial effects on wound healing. Studies in experimental systems have clearly demonstrated a beneficial effect for members of the gut microbiota on regulation of systemic inflammation, which could also impact wound healing at sites outside the gastrointestinal tract. The utilization of culture-independent microbiology to characterize the microbiome of wounds and surrounding mucosa has raised many intriguing questions regarding previously held notions about the cause and effect relationships between bacterial colonization and wound repair and mechanisms involved in this symbiotic relationship.

Copyright © 2012 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement: None of the authors have any conflicts of interest with the material presented in this review article

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Summary of the mechanisms involved in modulating the bacterial microbiome of wounds and the effects of different wound microbiomes on the inflammatory and healing process. Specific details of the processes outlined in this figure are described in the text. ROS = reactive oxygen species; TLR = toll-like receptors.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Grice EA, Segre JA. The skin microbiome. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2011;9:244–253. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ley RE, Peterson DA, Gordon JI. Ecological and evolutionary forces shaping microbial diversity in the human intestine. Cell. 2006;124:837–848. - PubMed
    1. Meneghin A, Hogaboam CM. Infectious disease, the innate immune response, and fibrosis. J Clin Invest. 2007;117:530–538. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Reinke JM, Sorg H. Wound Repair and Regeneration. Eur Surg Res. 2012;49:35–43. - PubMed
    1. Wynn TA. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of fibrosis. J Pathol. 2008;214:199–210. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources