What are the major components of granulation tissue during healing?

Prepare for the Tissue Injury, Healing, and Pain Test. Utilize flashcards and multiple-choice questions with hints and explanations. Ensure you're ready for the exam!

Granulation tissue forms during the proliferative phase of wound healing and is a loose, highly vascular connective tissue that provides the scaffold for repair. It includes new capillaries (angiogenesis) to bring blood supply to the injured area, fibroblasts and myofibroblasts that lay down extracellular matrix and remodel the tissue, inflammatory cells that coordinate healing, and an extracellular matrix matrix that holds everything together. This combination creates a moist, pink tissue that fills the wound and supports regrowth, while also contracting the wound as myofibroblasts pull the edges inward.

Adipose tissue and bone formation don’t characterize this stage; adipose and osteogenesis occur in other contexts of tissue remodeling. Dense collagen-only tissue resembles a mature scar rather than the loose, vascular, cell-rich matrix of granulation tissue. Neural tissue and cartilage likewise are not components of granulation tissue in the healing process.