THE EFFECT OF AGE ON THE CHEMISTRY OF INFLAMMATION

[摘要] Wounds from aged rats were more edematous than those from young animals. Despite this increased degree of edema, the proportional losses of collagen from the wound and the accumulation of fuco-glycoprotein within the wound with time after injury were considerably less pronounced in the old than in the young animal. This finding strongly suggests that neither the loss of collagen nor the accumulation of glycoprotein with injury derived exclusively from fluid shifts during edema and consequent contamination of the wound with serum glycoprotein, but rather represent major anabolic and catabolic changes within the wound during necrosis. Whether this lesser accumulation of glycoprotein within the wound from the aged rat than from the young animal was due to an increased draining of glycoprotein from the wound or an actual inability of the marginal tissue to synthesize this material is not known. Finally, the uninjured skin of the aged rats did not react to local injury as did the skin of the younger animals. Presumably this failure of the uninjured skin from the aged animal to respond to local necrosis is a result of the fact that the connective tissue of the aged rat has been shown to be refractory to stress hormones.