The effect of Tragacanth Mucilage on the healing of full-thickness wound in rabits

Background: Wound repair is a natural reaction to injury, which results in restoration oftissue integrity. Wound healing occurs in 3 phases including inflammation, proliferation, andremodeling. There are common pathways in wound healing of human and certain animalspecies.Objective: To examine the healing effect of tragacanth mucilage on excisional full-thicknesswound in rabbit.Methods: Mucilage was extracted from the dried tragacanth gum, using a mixture of waterand glycerin (4:1) as the vehicle. Three percent, 6%, and 9% creams of tragacanth mucilagewere prepared in the eucerin base. A full-thickness wound was made on the left flank ofrabbits. Tragacanth creams were applied on the wound area twice daily. Control groups weretreated with the drug-free cream base or commercial phenytoin cream 1%. Healing wasdetermined quantitatively as the reduction in wound area. Histological study was performedusing hematoxylin and eosin stain under light microscope.Results: The wound healing profile of tragacanth-treated groups was significantly better thanthe nontreated groups. The best healing effect was observed with the 6% tragacanth cream,which exerted the lowest period for healing. This effect was significantly different from thecontrol phenytoin or drug-free eucerin bases. The extent of tissue repairment was confirmedby histological examination.Conclusion: Tragacanth mucilage exhibited a considerable potency for wound healing. Thisis probably due to an acceleration of collagenation and proliferation phases of the woundrepair.

کلیدواژه ها:

Mucilage ، phenytoin ، tragacanth ، wound healing