[Effects of late suturing and of various locations of skin wounds on wound healing in young and old rats].

The healing of six-day-old cutaneous wounds under different conditions had been evaluated in rats. Wounds situated along the direction of cutaneous splitting displayed a slightly better healing than the other ones. In the wounds of young rats proliferation of fibroblast occurred earlier, but the more pronounced exsudative component persisted for a longer period. Regeneration of the epidermis preceded healing in the corium in all cases. All the differences mentioned disappeared when the wound was sutured two hours after the lesion had been produced, under conditions simulating the surgical procedure. The wound edges remained free of any substantial reaction. The regenerated epidermis became easily disrupted and the wound opened widely even when the histological processing was very careful. The lesioned connective tissue of the corium remained covered with fibrin.