New insight about how blood clots are formed during wound healing

Research carried out by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has revealed new information about how blood clots are formed during wound healing.

The research, published tomorrow in Science Advances, examines the behaviour of platelets at a wound site, specifically their ability to sense where within a blood clot they are and remodel their surroundings accordingly.

Platelets are key to initiating wound healing and the formation of blood clots (thrombus). Fibroblasts are connective tissue cells that are essential for the later stages of wound healing. Fibroblasts invade the clot that has been formed and produce vital proteins, including fibronectin, that then form a structural framework to build the new tissue needed to heal.

This new study indicates that platelets can also form a provisional fibronectin matrix in their surroundings, similar to what fibroblasts do in the later stages of wound healing. This has potential implications for how the integrity of blood clots might be maintained during vascular repair.

The study's lead author is Dr Ingmar Schoen from the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at RCSI.

Commenting on the discovery, Dr Schoen said: "We have identified an additional unexpected role for the most prominent platelet adhesion receptor. Our results show that platelets not only form the clot but also can initiate its remodeling by erecting a fibrous scaffold. This finding challenges some existing paradigms in the field of wound healing, which is dominated by research on fibroblasts."

Key to this research was the use of superresolution microscopy, which enables sharper images of structures inside or around cells to be captured and observed in vitro, in a laboratory. Observation of this platelet behavior in a living organism (in vivo) will be required to further develop this finding.

Without super-resolution microscopy, this discovery would not have been possible."

Dr Ingmar Schoen, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, RCSI

The research was carried out in collaboration with researchers at ETH Zurich, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, University of Freiburg and University Hospital Zurich.

Source:
Journal reference:

Lickert, S., et al. (2022) Platelets drive fibronectin fibrillogenesis using integrin αIIbβ3. Science Advances. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj8331.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Optimizing research with automation: Solutions and best practices