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Physics of Wound Healing I: Energy Considerations
16 Dec 2012
Abstract
Wound healing is a complex process with many components and interrelated
processes on a microscopic level. This paper addresses a macroscopic view on
wound healing based on an energy conservation argument coupled with a general
scaling of the metabolic rate with body mass M as M^{\gamma} where 0
<{\gamma}<1. Our three main findings are 1) the wound healing rate peaks at a
value determined by {\gamma} alone, suggesting a concept of wound acceleration
to monitor the status of a wound. 2) We find that the time-scale for wound
healing is a factor 1/(1 -{\gamma}) longer than the average internal timescale
for producing new material filling the wound cavity in corresondence with that
it usually takes weeks rather than days to heal a wound. 3) The model gives a
prediction for the maximum wound mass which can be generated in terms of
measurable quantities related to wound status. We compare our model predictions
to experimental results for a range of different wound conditions (healthy,
lean, diabetic and obsese rats) in order to delineate the most important
factors for a positive wound development trajectory. On this general level our
model has the potential of yielding insights both into the question of local
metabolic rates as well as possible diagnostic and therapeutic aspects.
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Details
- Title
- Physics of Wound Healing I: Energy Considerations
- Creators
- S. Peter ApellMichael NeidrauerElisabeth S PapazoglouVincent Pizziconi
- Resource Type
- Preprint
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems
- Other Identifier
- 991019342444604721