Skin Vascular Ultrastructure During Thermal Injury, Hypertrophic Scarring and its Resolution

Abstract

The usual result of deep thermal injury of the skin in children is hypertrophic scarring. The dynamics of revascularization have been implicated as integral to development and resolution of hypertrophic scarring. Thus, special attention is being directed toward examining vessels at different stages after injury.In vessels from normal skin endothelial cells do not contain many organelles; Golgi membranes are sometimes observed, a few mitochondria and occasional profiles of rough endoplasmic reticulum. Pinocytic vesicles are present on both tissue and blood side of the endothelial cells and in the perivascular satellite cells. Infrequently multivesicular bodies are observed. A thin basement membrane underlies endothelial cells and their satellites (Fig. 1).In the post-injury granulation tissue pinocytic vesicles and multivesicular bodies are seldom seen. The endothelial cells contain a marked increase in rough endoplasmic reticulum, often dilated, and intracytoplasmic filaments (Fig. 2).