Cooperative Regulation of Substrate Stiffness and Extracellular Matrix Proteins in Skin Wound Healing of Axolotls

Figure 1

In vitro culture of axolotl skin explants on substrates with various degrees of stiffness. All skin explants initially exhibited 2 mm punched holes; images of reepithelialization were recorded every 15 min. The unrecovered area is circled by a dashed line. Three degrees of substrate stiffness (2, 12, and 50 kPa) were investigated, respectively, from (a) to (c), (d) to (f), (g) to (i), and (j) to (l). From 0 to 2 h, most of the area was still uncovered in (a) to (c) and (d) to (f). After 2 h, the reepithelialization rate increased and more area was covered in (g) to (i); healing was complete within 10 h in (j) to (l); scale bars: 500 μm.