Cutaneous wound healing: a model for cell-matrix interactions.

Molecules of the extracellular matrix may influence the biologic behavior of basal cell keratinocytes. In the unwounded situation, basal cells are in contact with the basement membrane of the dermo-epidermal junction and eventually detach from this structure, move vertically, and differentiate. During wound healing these cells are in contact with an entirely different set of matrix molecules (including elastin, fibronectin, and interstitial collagen). The cells migrate laterally to cover the wound and remain in a proliferative, undifferentiated state. When 25-day-old epidermal cultures were compared, adult human keratinocyte migration across an interstitial collagen matrix was found to be approximately double that across a basement membrane matrix. This finding suggests that adult human keratinocyte migration is influenced by the matrix in contact with the cells. This type of cell-matrix interaction may be important to the understanding of cutaneous wound healing.