(545f) Development of Modeling Approaches to Predict Effects of Facilitated Wound Closure on Scarring

Wound healing is a process involving a complex cascade of events. With multiple growth factors controlling the coordination of events, different cell types migrating into and out of wounded tissue and a variety of forces at play to facilitate closure of the wound, mathematical models designed to predict the effects of suturing and related wound closure techniques can be quite complicated. To make the problem tractable, assumptions are often made to enable a practical solution of a particular model of a specific phase of wound healing. Ultimately, each model has specific inputs and outputs depending on its purpose. A review of the literature reveals insights regarding the variety of overlapping inputs and outputs for any given type of model. For example, rates of growth/migration of cells typically indicate the utilization of a mechanochemical model while stress tensors within the wounded area are inputs of purely mechanical models involving wound healing. Similarly, typical outputs of mechanochemical models include the concentration of cells and growth factors within the wound area at a given time while the stress of skin is an output of suturing/closure models. Identifying the overlaps (and gaps) of these parameters, as well as coupling such overlap with the type of model used to describe wound healing, will shed light on opportunities that potentially allow for an innovative mathematical model that will describe the process of wound healing as well as the effects that suturing has on this process. In this presentation, a summary of this review will be provided.