TYMPANIC MEMBRANE PERFORATIONS IN THE DIABETIC RAT - A MODEL OF IMPAIRED WOUND-HEALING

Animal models of type I and type II diabetes mellitus have been studie d intensively in an effort to define the pathophysiology of the diabet ic condition, An often-observed clinical manifestation of diabetes is poor wound repair, Thus diabetic animals have emerged as useful models for the study of impaired wound healing, The healing of acute tympani c membrane (TM) perforations in diabetic animals has not been reported , This investigation compares time to closure of a standardized TM per foration in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes, Zucker diabetic fatty rats, and normal control rats, The Zucker diabetic fatty rats d emonstrate a significantly prolonged time to closure compared with the other two groups, This animal model may be useful for future study of TM wound repair.