Patterns of cell polarity in healing open wounds.

The fibroblasts of the open wound, and especially those of the whole edge, are characteristically elongated, with their long axes parallel to the connective tissue bundles. Their cytoplasmic organelles are polarized, suggesting that secretory products are released from one end of the cell. Results of the current study indicate that orientation and polarization of granulation tissue fibroblasts may be coupled with secretion of collagen and glycosaminoglycan during early wound healing.