Diversity of Fibroblasts and Their Roles in Wound Healing

Wound healing disorders are a societal, clinical, and healthcare burden and understanding and treating them is a major challenge. A particularly important cell type in the wound healing processes is the fibroblast. Fibroblasts are not homogenous; however, there are diverse functional fibroblast subtypes coming from different embryonic origins and residing in dispersed anatomic locations including distinct classes of fibroblasts at various skin depths. In this review, we discuss the implications of fibroblast heterogeneity, with a focus on the fundamental physiological functions of the fibroblast subtypes that govern wound repair and clinical degrees of healing. A better understanding of these diverse functional fibroblast populations will likely lead to novel therapies to enhance wound healing and inhibit excessive scarring.