Why wounds in the mouth heal faster than those in the skin?

US researchers believe they have found the key to explain this phenomenon

We all know that a sore in the mouth seems to heal faster than a sore in the skin. In addition, in the face of a wound on the skin, a first reaction is to put saliva on the wound

The question that has long aroused the interest of doctors finally seems to have an answer. Researchers at the University of California at San Diego and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, have detected key gene regulators that are more active in the mouth to heal wounds without leaving scars.

find The regulators, proteins known as SOX2, PITX1, PITX2 and PAX9, were more active in keratinocyte cells of the mouth, but not in the skin cells of the arm. "Regulators retain inflammation that can cause scars and activate the molecular programs involved in cell movement and wound closure," the researchers point out.

The discovery of these differentiated healing processes could eventually lead to therapies. for the rest of the skin.

During the investigation, scientists made small wounds both in the mouth and in the upper arm of 30 volunteers. Oral wounds healed about three times faster than wounds produced in the arm skin, averaging at a rate of about 0.3 millimeters a day in the mouth, compared to less than 0.1 millimeters a day in the mouth. the arm. 19659003]