FIGURE 1

Blood vessel density and VEGF protein production in scarless and fibrotic fetal wounds. Immunohistochemical staining for PECAM was used to identify blood vessels in scarless (a, E15) and fibrotic (b, E18) fetal wounds 7 days post-wounding. Arrows indicate the wound bed or scar margins (scale bar=100 m). Blood vessel densities were calculated and are represented graphically (c). Data from day 7 wounds and unwounded, age-matched skin (control) are shown. The bars and lines represent meanss.e.m.; ^* P<0.0076, unpaired t-test; n=3 per age for control skin; n=10 for E15 wounds, and n=7 for E18 wounds. VEGF protein levels in unwounded skin and wound homogenates were measured by ELISA (d). VEGF levels in wounds made at E15 () or E18 () were measured during healing. Unwounded E15 () and E18 () skin are also shown. The amount of VEGF (pg) was normalized to total protein content (g). Points and lines on the graph represent meanss.e.m.; ^** P<0.001 and ^* P<0.05, two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-tests; n=3–6 per time point.