SMALL-INTESTINAL SUBMUCOSA - UTILIZATION AS A WOUND DRESSING IN FULL-THICKNESS RODENT WOUNDS

Wound dressings are used as a temporary wound covering to promote woun d healing, control wound exudate, and decrease wound contamination as well as evaporative water loss. A new material, porcine small intestin al submucosa, has been used successfully as an arterial and venous gra ft in both canine and primate animal models with graft patency and inf ection rates equal to autologous vein. Based on these studies, small i ntestinal submucosa was used as a biological wound dressing in 20 x 20 mm full-thickness wounds made on Sprague-Dawley rats, In the controls (group I, n = 12), an acrylic frame (20 x 20 mm) was sutured to the w ound edges, followed by placement of a thin polyurethane film. In the small intestinal submucosa-treated animals (group II, n = 12), the wou nd was covered with small intestinal submucosa and then with the acryl ic frame and polyurethane film. The wounds were examined both visually and histologically at postapplication days 3, 7, 14, 28, 42, and 56. In addition, the wound contraction rate of 6 animals in both groups wa s recorded at postapplication day 0 and then at 1 week, 1 month, 2 mon ths, acid 3 months. Histological analysis (hematoxylin-eosin and perio dic acid-Schiff stains) of the small intestinal submucosa-treated woun ds revealed no host-versus-graft rejection and a rate of epithelializa tion equal to that of the control group. The wound contraction rate wa s statistically significant (higher; p < .05) in the control group com pared to the small intestinal submucosa-treated group, Porcine small i ntestinal submucosa merits further study as both a biological wound dr essing and as a substrate for cultured cells.