Methods for Investigating Fetal Tissue Repair

This chapter is devoted to a fascinating topic in molecular biology—scarless fetal wound repair. Our understanding of this phenomenon may one day allow us to manipulate the adult wound-healing process to recapitulate the scarless phenotype. To achieve this goal, we must first understand the molecular “blueprint” for scarless repair. In other words, the first question we must ask ourselves is: What cytokines involved in modulating the healing process enable the early gestational age fetal wound to heal skin wounds in a scarless fashion?