Cellular Damage, Biological Drawing, Acute vs. Chronic Inflammation, Smoking and Wound Healing, Wound Healing Process

Running Head: PART A – EXERCISES 1
Part A – Exercises
Author’s Name
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PART A – EXERCISES 2
Cellular Damage
How Hypoxia Affects Wound Healing
Proper wound healing requires oxygen. Hypoxia or anoxia due to restricted blood supply
causes a drop in oxygen levels in the wound region. Hypoxia can be due to obstruction of the
respiratory pathway, the inability of the cells to utilize oxygen for cellular respiration that causes
ischemia, transfer of oxygen across the surfaces of the lungs and defective transport of oxygen in
the blood. Ischemia caused by restriction of blood hence oxygen cannot freely reach the
damaged tissues hence reduced granulation, epithelialization and reduced stromal function hence
limiting the process of wound healing. Hypoxia causes malfunction of the sodium-potassium
pump which leads to depletion of energy hence inhibition of ATPase leading to loss of cell
division (Cerqueira, Pirraco & Marques, 2016).
Therefore, hypoxia causes poor wound healing since Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 which is
a regulator of homeostasis determines the wound healing outcomes. This factor contributes to all
the stages of wound healing which include the migration of the cell, survival of the cell in the
hypoxic conditions, the release of growth factor, cell division and the production and release of
the matrix to be laid on the healing wound throughout the healing process (Hong et al. 2014). In
a nutshell, lack of oxygen and blood supply negatively affects the process of wound healing as
seen in our case study.
How To Improve Oxygen Delivery To Injured Ischemic Tissues
Most of the important process that is involved in wound healing is dependent on oxygen.
Oxygen delivery to ischemic tissue can be done through draining of oedema to allow sufficient
blood supply that leads to the increase in the amount of oxygen that reaches the tissues. More

PART A – EXERCISES 3
rapid clearance of bacterial infection and resolution of inflammation also improves oxygen
delivery to the healing wounds. The other way to improve oxygen delivery to the wound region
is the application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy whereby oxygen is introduced into the tissues at
a higher pressure than the atmospheric pressure so that it can reach the ischemic tissues.
Biological Drawing
The image below is a representation of a neutrophil moving from the bloodstream to the site of
an injury (Kolaczkowska & Kubes, 2013).
After an injury, acute inflammation occurs in an attempt to fight infection. Neutrophils
undergo activation and margination through chemotaxis attraction. These leukocytes start rolling
along the epithelium and adhere to the surface. The neutrophils then undergo transmigration by
diapedesis to the interstitial fluid towards the site of injury. Then there is phagocytosis of foreign
microbes so as to destroy, dilute and sequester them (Kolaczkowska & Kubes, 2013).
Comparison and Contrasting of Acute vs. Chronic Inflammation
Differences