Abstract
To investigate the effect of zinc sulphate administered by transdermal iontophoresis (TDI) on mechanical resistance of surgical wounds performed in the skin of diabetic rats. One hundred and sixty male Wistar rats weighing approximately 250 g were submitted to an incision surgery at the anterior region of abdomen and randomly distributed into four experimental groups with 40 non-diabetic control animals (G1) and 40 untreated diabetic animals (G2), both without any treatment of incisions; 40 non-diabetic animals (G3) and 40 untreated diabetic animals (G4), both with incisions treated with zinc sulphate, administered for a period of four consecutive days after surgery, in sessions of ten minutes duration, using a continuous-current electrostimulator (Zn + TDI). Each experimental group was further divided into four subgroups with ten rats each to be evaluated on the 4th, 7th, 14th, and 21st day after surgery. In each period were analyzed clinical and laboratory from the animals, and measured the breaking strength and hydroxyproline content (OH-P) of the skin scars. Breaking strength (BS) was significantly reduced (p<0.05) in skin scars of untreated diabetic rats (G2) on the 7th, 14th, and 21st postoperative days when compared to non-diabetic control rats (G1). In contrast, BS in skin scars of non-diabetic and untreated diabetic rats (G3, G4) treated with Zn + TDI showed significant increase (p<0.05) in those periods when compared with their respective controls with untreated incisions. The OH-P content of the scars did not show statistically significant variation in all studied groups at four different times evaluated after surgery. Zinc sulphate administered by transdermal iontophoresis had beneficial effect on the mechanical resistance of scars produced in the skin of diabetic rats. This therapeutic may have potential to reduce the complications observed in surgical wounds of the skin in diabetic subjects, mainly in most vulnerable stages of incisions to dehiscences, leakages and infections.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered to be a public health problem worldwide, and it is associated by high morbidity and mortality rates[1,2]
Animals were randomly assigned into four experimental groups, with 40 animals each, as follows: G1- Non-diabetic control rats without any treatment of the surgical incision; G2 – Untreated diabetic rats without any treatment of the surgical incision; G3 – Non-diabetic rats with surgical incision treated with zinc sulphate administered by transdermal iontophoresis (Zn + Transdermal iontophoresis (TDI)); G4Untreated diabetic rats with surgical incision treated by Zn + TDI
Untreated diabetic rats (G2, G4) without any treatment for the disease developed with accentuated body weight loss and significantly increased water intake, food intake and diuresis as compared with non-diabetic control animals (p
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered to be a public health problem worldwide, and it is associated by high morbidity and mortality rates[1,2]. Failures observed in the healing process of diabetic patients’ wounds are the major source of complications associated with surgical procedures involving increased risk for dehiscences, leakages, and infections[3,4]. Emphasis has been given to the application of therapeutic resources that can enhance blood circulation in the wounded area, in the skin[9]. Among such resources, the stimulation of tissues by continuous electric current, associated with ion administration (iontophoresis) has been widely used in clinical practice and in experimental studies, with several therapeutic purposes, including the localized calcium deposits, tendinitis and tenosynovitis, hyperhidrosis, myospasms, joint arthrosis, tissue adherence, keloids, rheumatoid arthritis, fungal infection, lymphedema and wound healing
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