Abstract

Oral mucosa wound healing comprises a series of sequential responses that allow the closure of ruptures in this tissue. This process is of critical importance to prevent the invasion of microorganisms or other agents into tissues avoiding the establishment of chronic inflammation. Since the oral mucosa is continually exposed to traumatic and infectious challenges, this tissue has developed evolutionary strategies to circumvent this adverse environment. Therefore, the oral mucosa has several advantages in terms of the efficiency of the wound healing response. Wound healing may also play an important role during the cell and tissue reactions that occur during the development of chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. Therefore, knowledge on the mechanisms that regulate wound healing is essential for the comprehension of pathological events in this tissue. After tissue injury, different biological mechanisms become immediately activated to reconstitute the damaged tissues. Diverse cell types are sequentially recruited and activated to take action in this process. Importantly, these cell types must also be eliminated or silenced for the normal evolution of the wound healing process. The cells engaged during wound healing include components of the immunological system (neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, and dendritic cells), as well as endothelial cells, keratinocytes, and fibroblasts [1]. Cell activation involves in several cases the regulation of the expression numerous genes [2] that control cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration [1]. The extracellular matrix represents another important tissue component involved in wound healing [3]. This is because cells must secrete and organize several molecules including glycoproteins like collagens and fibronectin as well as proteoglycans and matricellular proteins [4]. This event is of outmost importance to permit cell migration and differentiation and finally to restore the damaged tissues. In addition, the level of tension perceived by the cells during cell migration and matrix organization is an important source of information for cells that modify gene expression, proliferation, migration, and differentiation [4]. Therefore, successful wound healing and tissue regeneration require both normally responding cells and a healthy ECM.