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Watching Wounds
26 September 2013

Watching Wounds

When we’re wounded, our bodies rush to repair the damage. First, there’s a blood clot that forms quickly and acts as a temporary seal. Then follows the more gradual process of angiogenesis – the growth of new blood vessels to replace those that are injured. This image is of a wound healing on a mouse. It was captured using a new form of fluorescence microscopy, which involves staining the tissue with chemicals that make it fluoresce, and then taking a picture that shows only the fluorescence. At the top is the blood clot in the open wound, while the strands beneath are newly grown capillaries [the smallest blood vessels] extending into the muscle. This technique enables us to understand the complex mechanisms of wound healing better than ever before.

Written by Robin Hersom

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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