How does the human body differentiate between abrasions and cuts or stretch marks? And if the body sees them similarly, why do they heal differently?
In: Biology
an organ reacts to stress that is acted upon it
the degree of damage is what dictates the pathway of healing, the two pathways of healing are “regeneration” and “repair”
when stem cells of the organ die, and thus normal organ cells cannot be regenerated, that is when the body decides to heal with the “repair” pathway, utilizing fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, and capillaries, it lays down granulation tissue, which ultimately forms a scar.
easy example to understand these concepts, you can have a small cut to your skin, where you dont even remember being cut, but it leaves a mark, and it dissappears over a couple days as your body regenerates new cells (keratinocytes)
or you can have a cut that is just a bit deeper, which reaches the basal cell layer of the epidermis; the basal cell layer of the epidermis contains the stem cells of your skin, when these stem cells are damaged, the regenerative capacity is now gone, so the only way by which the skin can heal itself, is through scar formation.
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