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Skin Wound Healing and Regeneration in Vertebrates
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Skin Wound Healing and Regeneration in Vertebrates

A special issue of Journal of Developmental Biology (ISSN 2221-3759).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2025 | Viewed by 2512

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Lorenzo Alibardi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Comparative Histolab and Department of Biology, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Interests: skin development in all vertebrates, especially reptiles AND nervous; organ regeneration in vertebrates, especially reptiles and amphibians
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The process of wound healing of the skin varies broadly among different species of vertebrates and also depends on the age of the injured animal. Scarring is a common result of wound healing in adult amniotes (reptiles, birds and mammals), while in anamniotes (fish and amphibians), the skin repairs well and with little or no scars. Some reptiles can also repair skin wound without scarring but this only occurs for relatively small wounds. The reason for this difference in aquatic versus terrestrial species is only partially known, but it largely derives from the inflammation and immune reaction that follows the wound, which is more intense in amniotes than in anamniotes, and from the type of immune cells that are activated during inflammation.

This Special Issue aims to delineate the variable healing capability among vertebrates. Original or review manuscripts are welcome, dealing with wound healing processes present in aquatic vertebrates, fish, and tetrapods that spend part of their life in water and part in humid or drier land conditions, including amphibians. Finally, manuscripts on the limited healing ability of the skin in reptiles, birds, and mammals are also welcomed for the Special Issue. Common and different processes of skin healing and regeneration in anamniotes and amniotes will be considered. The Special Issue is meant to summarize the present information on the different healing abilities of the wounded skin in aquatic versus terrestrial vertebrates.

Dr. Lorenzo Alibardi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Developmental Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • vertebrates
  • skin and wound
  • scarring and healing
  • skin repair
  • regeneration

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 10507 KiB  
Article
Probe Sequencing Analysis of Regenerating Lizard Tails Indicates Crosstalk Among Osteoclasts, Epidermal Cells, and Fibroblasts
by Darian J. Gamble, Samantha Lopez, Melody Yazdi, Toni Castro-Torres and Thomas P. Lozito
J. Dev. Biol. 2025, 13(2), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb13020015 - 3 May 2025
Viewed by 481
Abstract
Lizards are distinguished as the only amniotes, and closest relatives of mammals, capable of multilineage epimorphic regeneration. Tail blastemas of green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis) consist of col3a1+ fibroblastic connective tissue cells enclosed in krt5+ wound epidermis (WE), both [...] Read more.
Lizards are distinguished as the only amniotes, and closest relatives of mammals, capable of multilineage epimorphic regeneration. Tail blastemas of green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis) consist of col3a1+ fibroblastic connective tissue cells enclosed in krt5+ wound epidermis (WE), both of which are required for regeneration. Blastema and WE formation are known to be closely associated with phagocytic cell populations, including macrophages and osteoclasts. However, it remains unclear what specific phagocytic cell types are required to stimulate regeneration. Here, we explicitly assess the roles of osteoclast activity during blastema and WE formation in regenerating lizard tails. First, probe sequencing was performed at regenerative timepoints on fibroblasts isolated based on col3a1 expression toward establishing pathways involved in stimulating blastema formation and subsequent tail regrowth. Next, treatments with osteoclast inhibitor zoledronic acid (ZA) were used to assess the roles of osteoclast activity in lizard tail regeneration and fibroblast signaling. ZA treatment stunted lizard tail regrowth, suggesting osteoclast activity was required for blastema formation and regeneration. Transcriptomic profiling of fibroblasts isolated from ZA-treated and control lizards linked inhibition of osteoclast activity with limitations in fibroblasts to form pro-regenerative extracellular matrix and support WE formation. These results suggest that crosstalk between osteoclasts and fibroblasts regulates blastema and WE formation during lizard tail regeneration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Skin Wound Healing and Regeneration in Vertebrates)
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15 pages, 3888 KiB  
Article
Wound-Induced Regeneration in Feather Follicles: A Stepwise Strategy to Regenerate Stem Cells
by Ting-Xin Jiang, Ping Wu, Ang Li, Randall B. Widelitz and Cheng-Ming Chuong
J. Dev. Biol. 2025, 13(2), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb13020010 - 27 Mar 2025
Viewed by 1326
Abstract
How to elicit and harness regeneration is a major issue in wound healing. Skin injury in most amniotes leads to repair rather than regeneration, except in hair and feathers. Feather follicles are unique organs that undergo physiological cyclic renewal, supported by a dynamic [...] Read more.
How to elicit and harness regeneration is a major issue in wound healing. Skin injury in most amniotes leads to repair rather than regeneration, except in hair and feathers. Feather follicles are unique organs that undergo physiological cyclic renewal, supported by a dynamic stem cell niche. During normal feather cycling, growth-phase proximal follicle collar bulge stem cells adopt a ring configuration. At the resting and initiation phases, these stem cells descend to the dermal papilla to form papillary ectoderm and ascend to the proximal follicle in a new growth phase. Plucking resting-phase feathers accelerates papillary ectoderm cell activation. Plucking growth-phase feathers depletes collar bulge stem cells; however, a blastema reforms the collar bulge stem cells, expressing KRT15, LGR6, Sox9, integrin-α6, and tenascin C. Removing the follicle base and dermal papilla prevents feather regeneration. Yet, transplanting an exogenous dermal papilla to the follicle base can induce re-epithelialization from the lower follicle sheath, followed by feather regeneration. Thus, there is a stepwise regenerative strategy using stem cells located in the collar bulge, papillary ectoderm, and de-differentiated lower follicle sheath to generate new feathers after different levels of injuries. This adaptable regenerative mechanism is based on the hierarchy of stem cell regenerative capacity and underscores the remarkable resilience of feather follicle regenerative abilities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Skin Wound Healing and Regeneration in Vertebrates)
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