皮膚的傷口癒合後總是會留下疤痕,而在牙齦的傷口,癒合後不會有明顯的疤痕產生,並且也比皮膚傷口癒合得更快速。在回顧許多文獻,發現牙齦纖維母細胞和皮膚纖維母細胞在各自的傷口癒合過程中有不同的行為表現:對於皮膚纖維母細胞,TGF-β1有促進胞外基質堆積的效果,而牙齦纖維母細胞在受到TGF-β1刺激時較無反應性,卻會釋放出MMP-13,這酵素經實驗證明是能促成高效能的基質重塑和傷口縮合。因為牙齦纖維母細胞對於機械性張力和TGF-β1較無反應,使其不易分化成肌性纖維母細胞。此外,牙齦傷口在癒合早期存在有大量的TGF-β3這種抗纖維化的細胞激素。這些性質讓牙齦傷口有適量的膠原蛋白堆積和高效的基質重塑。我們認為牙齦纖維母細胞這種特殊表型是造成牙齦無疤癒合的主因。(台灣牙周醫誌17: 15-23, 20 12)
The skin wounds always heal with scar formation. While in the gingiva, it always result in scarless healing and heal rapidly than skin wounds. From our thorough literature review, we found that gingival fibroblasts and dermal fibroblasts have different behavior in wound healing process: For dermal fibroblasts, TGF-β1 has a fïbroplasia effect. On the other hand, gingival fibroblasts have little responses to TGF- β1 but release more MMP-13 when stimulating with TGF-β1. MMP-13 has been proofed to have effective and rapid matrix remodeling and wound contraction effect in wound healing. Gingival fibroblasts are less potent to differentiate into myofibroblasts because of its poor responsiveness to mechanical tension and TGF- β1. In addition, there is high concentration of TGF- β3, a cytokine that has anti-fibrosis effect, in the early stage of gingival healing wounds. These unique characters of gingival fibroblasts let gingival wounds could heal with appropriate amount of collagen deposition and effective matrix remodeling. We believe the unique phenotype and molecular mechanism of gingival fibroblasts are the major factors contribute to scarless wound healing in oral cavity. (J Taiwan Periodontol 17: 15-23, 2012)