Time Course of Histomorphologic Features during Chronic Burn Wound Healing

Abstract

In forensic pathology, it is always indispensable to determine burn wound vitality or age to accurately assess the relationship between death and any burn wounds. Subsequently, the determination of wound age is a definitive and still cutting-edge subject in forensic pathology. Therefore, deep second-degree burn injuries were induced in a group of mice. At 7, 12, 17, 21 and 28 days post-burn, burn wound specimens were histomorphologically differentiated and compared with normal intact skin using H&E stain. The study revealed that the burn wound during healing process was usually incorporated of infiltration of inflammatory cells, granulation tissue formation and epithelialization within 7 - 12 days post-burn. Then, the surface of burn wound was partially ulcerated in association with epidermal necrosis, dermal disorganization and degeneration of the sebaceous gland 17 - 21 days post-burn. Finally, the regenerated skin retained the structure of normal skin at 28th day post-burn. Our study demonstrated that the histopathological changes of burn wounds involved deep dermis, and the pathological changes occurred at distinctive time phases were almost different in comparing to regular intact skin. Such age estimation of burn wounds is important when a cadaver or a burnt body has many burns of diverse times, especially in criminal cases.