THE EFFECT OF OCTREOTIDE ON WOUND-HEALING - AN IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY

Objective: To investigate the effect of octreotide on wound healing. D esign: Experimental studies in vitro and in rats. Setting: Teaching ho spital, Israel. Material: Cultured human diploid fetal fibroblasts, an d 36 male Wistar rats. Interventions: Octreotide was added to cultures of fibroblasts in doses of 2, 10, 30, 60 and 120 ng/ml and fibroblast s were counted after 2, 4, and 6 days. Intestinal anastomoses were mad e in 36 rats, Rats in the octreotide group (n = 18) were given subcuta neous injections of 0.25 mu g/kg twice daily and 6 rats were killed at 3, 7, and 14 days. The control group were given injections of saline. Anastomotic bursting pressures and hydroxyproline content were measur ed at each of the three times. Main outcome measures: Fibroblast count s, anastomotic bursting pressures, and hydroxyproline concentrations. Results: Octreotide did not inhibit fibroblast proliferation in any of the doses at any of the time periods. The anastomotic bursting pressu re was slightly higher in the octreotide group at each of the time poi nts, but not significantly so, and there was no difference in hydroxyp roline content between the octreotide and control groups. Conclusion: Octreotide did not inhibit wound healing either in vitro or in vivo.