Investigation of the effects of Pine and Chestnut Honey on wound healing

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of creams containing pine and chestnut honey on wound healing in rats. The animals were divided into the following four groups: a control group (A), a group treated with only basic cream ingredients (B), a group treated with pine honey cream (C), and a group treated with chestnut honey cream (D). Full-thickness skin wounds were created on the back of each rat (14 per group) with a 10-mm diameter punch instrument. In each group, skin samples were taken from seven rats on day 7 and from the remaining seven rats on day 14. The effects of the creams on wound healing were assessed by histopathological examination and hydroxyproline assays. The histopathological examination showed that chronic inflammation significantly decreased in group D compared to the control group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the levels of granulation tissue and granulation tissue/fibroblast maturation in skin samples taken on day 14 were also significantly lower in group D compared to the control group (P<0.05). It was observed that the neovascularization values of skin samples taken on day 7 were lower in group D than in the control group (P<0.05). Also, the difference in hydroxyproline levels between groups B and D was statistically significant (P<0.05). The results showed that the cream containing chestnut honey had a positive effect on wound healing.