Influence of pullulan hydrogel on sutureless wound healing in rats

In this study, pullulan hydrogel (10%) has been used to test its healing efficacy on suture-less wounds in rats. Male Wistar rats weighing between 150 to 200g body weights were used for this study. The animals were divided into 3 groups, each group comprising of six animals and a 3cm full thickness incision was made on the dorsum of the rats. To group I rats, 500μl of the hydrogel was applied on the wounds followed by finger clamping for 2min. Group II (positive control) rats were applied with povidine-iodine and group III rats (control) were left untreated. The drug was given once a day until the wounds healed completely. The healing rate was assessed by observing the number of days required for complete healing. The incision wounds of hydrogel treated rats healed within 6days whereas the wounds of positive control and control rats had taken 11days and 15days respectively, for complete healing. The animals were sacrificed and wound breaking strength of the incisions was measured. A two fold increase in the tensile strength was observed in the pullulan hydrogen treated wounds when compared to the control and positive control wounds. The tensile strength of pullulan hydrogel treated wounds was found to be (3.63MPa) when compared to control (1.17MPa) and positive control (1.34MPa) rats. Shrinkage temperature was also remarkably augmented (more than 25%) when compared to control. Histopathological evaluations showed enhanced proliferation of fibroblasts and faster epithelializa...

Source: Wound Medicine - May 10, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: research