If a person sustains a wound during the day, the wound would heal 60 percent faster, says a new study. The effect is related to how certain skin cells react during the day but not at night.
Wounds Heal 60 Percent Faster In Daytime
The new research, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Nov. 8, shows that if a person sustains a wound at night, the wound would take 60 percent longer to heal than the wound of a person who sustained it during the day.
If a person sustains a burn between 8 in the evening and 8 in the morning, the burn would get 95 percent healed after an average of 28 days. However, if it is sustained between 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening, the burn would take only 17 days to heal.
Researchers analyzed 118 patients and found an average difference of eleven days between those who were hurt during the day and those who were hurt at night. The results are related to how the human body's internal clocks work in almost every cell across a 24-hour rhythm.
Skin Cells: Fibroblasts
Researchers tried to observe cells that were grown in a flat layer and found that skin cells, called fibroblasts, were behaving differently in a 24-hour pattern. These cells play a critical role in wound healing and they were found to be more active during daytime than they are at nighttime. They move faster around the site of the wound area in daytime to close it up.
Also, researchers found that collagens, the primary structural proteins in skin and the most abundant in the body, responded well during the day than they did at night. Researchers were left astonished when they found out that the results of the "cell culture data" matched the results of another experiment that was conducted on mice.
New Insight Could Help Speed Up Wound Healing Process
Researchers say that the new insight can help doctors find effective drugs and also improve surgery and speed up the wound healing process. According to John Blaikley, a clinician scientist from the University of Manchester, treament of wounds costs the National Health Service in Britain about $6.5 billion a year.
Engineers Develop A Surgical Glue That Seals Wounds In Just 60 Seconds
A team of biomedical engineers from the University of Sydney, Northeastern University, and Harvard University have developed a surgical glue, called MeTro, that can seal wounds in just 60 seconds. According to the engineers, the glue is made from a naturally occurring protein called tropoelastin can be applied directly on the wound.
