Research Paper on:
Healing Wounds and the Role of Epidermal Stem Cells

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
some cells and restraining growth of other cells to produce the effective healing process. By understanding the role of stem cells in the healing of the epidermal layer more effective  treatments may be developed that utilised the healing mechanisms already in place. The formation of the skin is such that there are two layers; the keratinized stratified Epidermis and  the connective tissues which is a collagen rich dermal layer (Martin, 1997). These are also two different and separately defined pathways of the development of the cells under normal  conditions (Watts, 1998). However, when there is a wound to be healed that pattern can change, with the need to seal the skin layer. For example the hair follicle which  projects deeper into the body may demonstrate the way that stem cells react. If a wound occurs then hair follicle keratinocytes can transfer to the interfollicular epidermis where they can  then repopulate the area (Watts, 1998). The opposite is also true, if an empty hair shaft has interfollicular keratinocytes transferred to it, these will then, upon contacting the dermal papilla  cells to form the shaft of a hair (Watts, 1998). When other animals such as rabbits are examined, it has been fond that there is a higher speed of full  thickness dermal renewal, this has been attributed to the increased level of hair follicle densities and the migration and development of the differentiated cells (Jahoda and Reynolds, 2001). This  demonstrated the level of potential held by these cells, indeed, in looking at the characteristics of stem cells and epidermal renewal this process may be better understood. There are several  properties that may be attributed to stem cells, they are undifferentiated, whilst the body is living they can divide with no limits, when division takes place each daughter cell has