INFLUENCE OF HONEY ON BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF WOUNDS IN RATS

The influence of honey on biochemical and biophysical parameters of wo unds was assessed by making an excision wound by cutting away a 4 cm2 (2 cm x 2 cm) full-thickness patch of skin from the shaven back of rat s under ether anaesthesia. One milliliter of pure, commercial, unboile d honey was applied topically (Group II), or administered orally (Grou p III) or intraperitoneally (Group IV). The control rats were left unt reated (Group I). The rate of healing was assessed by estimation of so me biochemical parameters like DNA, total protein, total collagen, hex osamine and uronic acid contents of the granulation tissues formed dif ferent times after wound creation. All the biochemical parameters incr eased in honey-treated animals when compared with the control values. The increases were very significant with oral and intraperitoneal trea tment when compared with those with the topical. Biophysical parameter s like tensile strength, stress-strain behavior, rate of contraction, and period of epithelialization were also studied. There was an approx imately 21% increase in tensile strength in Group II rats, whereas the increase was more in Group III (34.5%) and Group IV (52%) rats. The s tress-strain behavior also followed the same trend. A significant incr ease in the rate of contraction was observed equally in all three hone y-treated groups when their values were compared to the control. Among the three experimental groups, the intraperitoneal treatment decrease d the period of epithelialization more significantly (37%) than the or al (22%) and topical (15%) treatments. The decrease in the period of e pithelialization showed that the time taken by the wounds to heal was less with systemic treatment than with no treatment (control).