Question: is it possible to speed up cellular regeneration when you have a cut

Jennifer Paxton answered on 15 Mar 2018:

Great question – thank you for asking! Yes, this is a huge area of research as people are very interested in how you can get wounds to heal quicker (to stop the risk of infections) and with less scarring (so that the skin doesn’t look as damaged). Scientists are looking at lots of different chemicals to help with this and also different types of wound dressing to help with the healing process. Ideally you would want the cells surrounding the cut to regenerate quickly to heal seal the wound faster. However, if this includes cells dividing and increasing in number then you need to be very careful that you can control it and you don’t end up with a tumour developing.
One of the ways people are investigating quicker wound healing is to look at the development of new blood vessels in the area – this is a process called angiogenesis (angio – relating to blood/blood vessels; genesis – creation of). Growing new blood vessels at the wound site means that nutrients can reach the cells quicker and waste produces from the injury site can be taken away faster.