ccording to level of contamination, a wound can be classified as:

 Clean wound – made under sterile conditions where there are no organisms present, and the
skin is likely to heal without complications.
 Contaminated wound – usually resulting from accidental injury; there are pathogenic organisms
and foreign bodies in the wound.
 Infected wound – the wound has pathogenic organisms present and multiplying, exhibiting
clinical signs of infection (yellow appearance, soreness, redness, oozing pus).
 Colonized wound – a chronic situation, containing pathogenic organisms, difficult to heal
(e.g. bedsore).
Open[edit]
Open wounds can be classified according to the object that caused the wound:

 Incisions or incised wounds – caused by a clean, sharp-edged object such as a knife, razor, or

glass splinter.
 Lacerations – irregular tear-like wounds caused by some blunt trauma. Lacerations and incisions
may appear linear (regular) or stellate (irregular). The term laceration is commonly misused in
reference to incisions.[1]
 Abrasions (grazes) – superficial wounds in which the topmost layer of the skin (the epidermis) is
scraped off. Abrasions are often caused by a sliding fall onto a rough surface such
as asphalt, tree bark or concrete.
 Avulsions – injuries in which a body structure is forcibly detached from its normal point of
insertion. A type of amputation where the extremity is pulled off rather than cut off. When used in
reference to skin avulsions, the term 'degloving' is also sometimes used as a synonym.
 Puncture wounds – caused by an object puncturing the skin, such as a splinter, nail or needle.
 Penetration wounds – caused by an object such as a knife entering and coming out from the
skin.
 Gunshot wounds – caused by a bullet or similar projectile driving into or through the body. There
may be two wounds, one at the site of entry and one at the site of exit, generally referred to as a
"through-and-through."
 Critical wounds- Including large burns that have been split. These wounds can cause serious
hydroelectrolytic and metabolic alterations including fluid loss, electrolyte imbalances, and
increased catabolism[2][3][4]
Closed[edit]
Closed wounds have fewer categories, but are just as dangerous as open wounds:

 Hematomas (or blood tumor) – caused by damage to a blood vessel that in turn causes blood to

collect under the skin.
o Hematomas that originate from internal blood vessel pathology are petechiae, purpura,
and ecchymosis. The different classifications are based on size.
o Hematomas that originate from an external source of trauma are contusions, also commonly
called bruises.
 Crush injury – caused by a great or extreme amount of force applied over a long period of time.
 he blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that
transport blood throughout the human body.[1] These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients,
and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away from
the tissues. Blood vessels are needed to sustain life, because all of the body's tissues rely
on their functionality.[2]
  There are five types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from
the heart; the arterioles; the capillaries, where the exchange of water and chemicals between
the blood and the tissues occurs; the venules; and the veins, which carry blood from the
capillaries back towards the heart.
 The word vascular, meaning relating to the blood vessels, is derived from the Latin vas,
meaning vessel. Some structures – such as cartilage, the epithelium, and
the lens and cornea of the eye – do not contain blood vessels and are labeled avascular.
eries and veins have three layers. The middle layer is thicker in the arteries than it is in the veins:

 The inner layer, tunica intima, is the thinnest layer. It is a single layer of flat cells (simple
squamous epithelium) glued by a polysaccharide intercellular matrix, surrounded by a thin layer
of subendothelial connective tissue interlaced with a number of circularly arranged elastic bands
called the internal elastic lamina. A thin membrane of elastic fibers in the tunica intima run
parallel to the vessel.
 The middle layer tunica media is the thickest layer in arteries. It consists of circularly arranged
elastic fiber, connective tissue, polysaccharide substances, the second and third layer are
separated by another thick elastic band called external elastic lamina. The tunica media may
(especially in arteries) be rich in vascular smooth muscle, which controls the caliber of the
vessel. Veins don't have the external elastic lamina, but only an internal one. The tunica media
is thicker in the arteries rather than the veins.
 The outer layer is the tunica adventitia and the thickest layer in veins. It is entirely made of
connective tissue. It also contains nerves that supply the vessel as well as nutrient capillaries
(vasa vasorum) in the larger blood vessels.
Capillaries consist of a single layer of endothelial cells with a supporting subendothelium consisting
of a basement membrane and connective tissue.
When blood vessels connect to form a region of diffuse vascular supply it is called an anastomosis.
Anastomoses provide critical alternative routes for blood to flow in case of blockages.
Leg veins have valves which prevent backflow of the blood being pumped against gravity by the
surrounding muscles.[3]

Types[edit]

Transmission electron micrograph of a blood vessel displaying an erythrocyte (red blood cell, E) within
its lumen, endothelial cells forming its tunica intima (inner layer), and pericytes forming its tunica
adventitia (outer layer).

There are various kinds of blood vessels:

 Arteries
 Elastic arteries
 Distributing arteries
 Arterioles
 Capillaries (smallest blood vessels)
 Venules
 Veins
o Large collecting vessels, such as the subclavian vein, the jugular vein, the renal vein and
the iliac vein.
o Venae cavae (the two largest veins, carry blood into the heart).
 Sinusoids
o Extremely small vessels located within bone marrow, the spleen, and the liver.
They are roughly grouped as "arterial" and "venous", determined by whether the blood in it is
flowing away from (arterial) or toward (venous) the heart. The term "arterial blood" is nevertheless
used to indicate blood high in oxygen, although the pulmonary artery carries "venous blood" and
blood flowing in the pulmonary vein is rich in oxygen. This is because they are carrying the blood to
and from the lungs, respectively, to be oxygenated.
A hormone (from the Greek participle ὁρμῶν, "setting in motion") is a class of signaling
molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes
to regulate physiology and behavior.[1] Hormones are required for the correct development
of animals, plants and fungi. Due to the broad definition of a hormone (as a signaling molecule that
exerts its effects far from its site of production), numerous kinds of molecules can be classified as
hormones. Among the substances that can be considered hormones,
are eicosanoids (e.g. prostaglandins and thromboxanes), steroids (e.g. oestrogen and brassinosteroi
d), amino acid derivatives (e.g. epinephrine and auxin), protein or peptides (e.g. insulin and CLE
peptides), and gases (e.g. ethylene and nitric oxide).
Hormones are used to communicate between organs and tissues. In vertebrates, hormones are
responsible for regulating a variety of physiological processes and behavioral activities such
as digestion, metabolism, respiration, sensory
perception, sleep, excretion, lactation, stress induction, growth and
development, movement, reproduction, and mood manipulation.[2][3] In plants, hormones modulate
almost all aspects of development, from germination to senescence.[4]
Hormones affect distant cells by binding to specific receptor proteins in the target cell, resulting in a
change in cell function. When a hormone binds to the receptor, it results in the activation of a signal
transduction pathway that typically activates gene transcription, resulting in increased expression of
target proteins. Hormones can also act in non-genomic pathways that synergize with genomic
effects.[5] Water-soluble hormones (such as peptides and amines) generally act on the surface of
target cells via second messengers. Lipid soluble hormones, (such as steroids) generally pass
through the plasma membranes of target cells (both cytoplasmic and nuclear) to act within
their nuclei. Brassinosteroids, a type of polyhydroxysteroids, are a sixth class of plant hormones and
may be useful as an anticancer drug for endocrine-responsive tumors to cause apoptosis and limit
plant growth. Despite being lipid soluble, they nevertheless attach to their receptor at the cell
surface.[6]
In vertebrates, endocrine glands are specialized organs that secrete hormones into the endocrine
signaling system. Hormone secretion occurs in response to specific biochemical signals and is often
subject to negative feedback regulation. For instance, high blood sugar (serum glucose
concentration) promotes insulin synthesis. Insulin then acts to reduce glucose levels and
maintain homeostasis, leading to reduced insulin levels. Upon secretion, water-soluble hormones
are readily transported through the circulatory system. Lipid-soluble hormones must bond to carrier
plasma glycoproteins (e.g., thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG)) to form ligand-protein complexes.
Some hormones, such as insulin and growth hormones, can be released into the bloodstream
already fully active. Other hormones, called prohormones, must be activated in certain cells through
a series of steps that are usually tightly controlled. [7] The endocrine system secretes hormones
directly into the bloodstream, typically via fenestrated capillaries, whereas the exocrine
system secretes its hormones indirectly using ducts. Hormones with paracrine function diffuse
through the interstitial spaces to nearby target tissue.
Plants lack specialized organs for the secretion of hormones, although there is spatial distribution of
hormone production. For example, the hormone auxin is produced mainly at the tips of
young leaves and in the shoot apical meristem. The lack of specialised glands means that the main
site of hormone production can change throughout the life of a plant, and the site of production is
dependent on the plant's age and environment. [8]