(1) Many dressings are designed to promote autolysis .(2) It is well known that autolysis alters the molecular structure and thereby the antigenicity of tissues.(3) Because our cases were autopsy cases, autolysis may have resulted in a decrease of positive staining cells.(4) A common problem for pathologists examining hysterectomy specimens is finding pronounced tissue autolysis .(5) Histologic examination of the colon did not show blue discoloration or abnormalities, with the exception of moderate autolysis .(6) Ultrastructural examination failed to detect viral inclusions, although the tissue exhibited a sizable degree of postmortem autolysis .(7) Specimens from living patients vastly outnumber autopsy specimens, and the absence of autolysis makes tissue from living people technically preferable for most purposes.(8) A number of products appear promising in accelerating wound healing by gentle and selective chemical or autolytic debridement; however, most of these products have not yet been subjected to sufficient clinical evaluation.(9) Moreover, autopsy studies are perceived as providing suboptimal material due to autolytic changes and they are also hampered by the unavailability, in most instances, of immunofluorescence and electron microscopic studies.(10) They are chosen for their ability to absorb moisture if the wound is draining or for their ability to stimulate autolytic debridement if the wound has necrotic tissue.(11) A senescence-like autolytic programme is present in unicellular and filamentous green algae.(12) They can be used to maintain a moist wound environment on a clean, healthy, granulating wound and to facilitate autolytic debridement in wounds with necrotic tissue.
