Int. J. Dev. Biol. 62: 491 - 505 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.180123sj

Vol 62, Issue 6-7-8

Special Issue: Regeneration

Wound healing, cellular regeneration and plasticity: the elegans way

Open Access | Published: 21 June 2018

Laura Vibert, Anne Daulny and Sophie Jarriault*

Department of Development and Stem Cells, IGBMC (Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire), CNRS UMR 7104/INSERM U1258, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Regeneration and wound healing are complex processes that allow organs and tissues to regain their integrity and functionality after injury. Wound healing, a key property of epithelia, involves tissue closure that in some cases leads to scar formation. Regeneration, a process rather limited in mammals, is the capacity to regrow (parts of) an organ or a tissue, after damage or amputation. What are the properties of organs and the features of tissue permitting functional regrowth and repair? What are the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these processes? These questions are crucial both in fundamental and applied contexts, with important medical implications. The mechanisms and cells underlying tissue repair have thus been the focus of intense investigation. The last decades have seen rapid progress in the domain and new models emerging. Here, we review the fundamental advances and the perspectives that the use of C. elegans as a model have brought to the mechanisms of wound healing and cellular plasticity, axon regeneration and transdifferentiation in vivo.

Keywords

regeneration, wound healing, cellular plasticity, transdifferentiation, innate immune system (axotomy)