Watching Wounds

When we’re wounded, our bodies rush to repair the damage. First, there’s a blood clot that forms quickly and acts as a temporary seal. Then follows the more gradual process of angiogenesis – the growth of new blood vessels to replace those that are injured. This image is of a wound healing on a mouse. It was captured using a new form of fluorescence microscopy, which involves staining the tissue with chemicals that make it fluoresce, and then taking a picture that shows only the fluorescence. At the top is the blood clot in the open wound, while the strands beneath are newly grown capillaries [the smallest blood vessels] extending into the muscle. This technique enables us to understand the complex mechanisms of wound healing better than ever before.

Written by Robin Hersom

Robin Hersom

Writer

Robin is interning at the Public Engagement, Media and Grants team at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre to learn about science communication, and as part of the job is researching and writing for BPoD.

• Kevin Belfield
• University of Central Florida, USA
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license
• Published in PLoS ONE 8(7): e67559