Evaluation of Wound Healing Activity of Topical Phenytoin in an Incision Wound Model in Rats

Abstract

Background: Wound healing is a significant healthcare problem in today’s medical practice. Despite extensive treatment modalities that are supposed to hasten the wound healing process, the outcomes of existing methods are far from optimal. One such agent that has been tried previously and found controversial in wound healing is phenytoin. Therefore, this study was planned to evaluate and compare wound healing effect of topical phenytoin with povidone iodine ointment in rats. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted after approval from Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC). Wound healing activity of topical phenytoin (1 gm% and 2gm%) was assessed in incision wound model in Sprague Dawley rats (n =8) which was compared with topical petroleum jelly and povidone iodine ointment. Parameters studied included measurement of wound tensile strength and estimation of hydroxyproline level in tissues obtained on the 10thpost-operative day. Results: The tensile strength was significantly more with both the preparations of phenytoin when compared to petroleum jelly and 10% povidone iodine. The hydroxyproline level was more in 1% and 2% phenytoin treated group as compared to other study groups. However, it showed significant difference only with petroleum jelly treated group and not with the povidone iodine treated group. There was no statistically significant difference between both the preparations of phenytoin. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that topical phenytoin accelerates wound healing process in an incision wound model. Keywords: Phenytoin, Povidone iodine, Incision wound