[Relationship between wound healing and the state of the immune system]

Principal differences in wound healing were established in rabbits with weak and strong delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) to phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The evaluation included the rate of contraction of the wound defect, macroscopic control, cytology of the wound exudate, qualitative and quantitative histology. The rate of healing in strong DTH to PHA is 1 1/2 times as high and the death-rate of wound infection 2 times as low as in weak DTH. The response of immunity organs (thymus, spleen, regional lymph node) and peripheral blood leukocytes was also found to differ significantly despite their initial structural homogeneity. Comparison of the experimental data with the results of a similar study of selective therapeutic effect of PHA on wound healing in low DTH leads to a conclusion of the greatest intactness of the monocytic macrophage system, its leading role in correction of healing, as well as of the greatest defects in the neutrophil system.