Morphological characteristics of wound healing with aloe extract, hydrogel, and their combination: experimental research

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Currently, there remains a high incidence of skin damage due to trauma, chronic diseases, burns, so it is important to study the issues of regeneration and treatment of skin wounds. AIM: To conduct a morphological analysis of wound healing using aloe extract, hydrogel, and their combination in the experiment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved 40 sexually mature guinea pigs, which were divided into a control group and 4 experimental groups (independent wound healing, application of aloe extract, hydrosorb gel, layer-by-layer application of drugs). Histological skin preparations were prepared on days 3, 7, 14, and 28 of the experiment. In each microslide, in 10 fields of view of the microscope at a magnification of ×50, morphometric parameters were measured in micrometers (µm): the thickness of the purulent-necrotic scab, inflammatory (leukocyte) infiltrate, granulation tissue, the length of the newly formed epithelium on days 3, 7, 14; the thickness of the epithelium, its length and the thickness of the connective tissue in the central part of the regenerate on the 28th day. All data were subjected to statistical processing. RESULTS: The medications led to a decrease in the inflammatory reaction, acceleration of the formation of granulation tissue, and partial wound epithelization by day 7 of the experiment; however, more pronounced signs of wound healing were observed with layer-by-layer application of aloe extract and hydrogel. By day 14, regardless of the application method, the use of medications demonstrated signs of enhanced wound healing. Thus, the length of the epithelium increased by 1.2–1.6 times, the depth of granulation tissue increased by 1.0–1.2 times compared to the control group. By the end of the experiment, all animals had complete closure of the wound with scar formation, while in the experimental groups showed signs of skin remodeling with appendages. CONCLUSION: Morphological analysis showed that aloe extract, hydrosorb gel, and their combination accelerated the wound healing processes of full-thickness skin wounds in the experiment.