Gallic Acid Wound Healing Effects in Rat Burn Model

Gallic acid (GA) is a part of tannins that is used for topical treatment of surface wounds, burns, and dermatitis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the burn wound healing effect of topical GA on second degree burn induced by the comb burn model in rats. This experimental study was performed on 65 Wistar rats and animals were randomly divided into 13 groups of 5. The first group was healthy or non-burned rats and 12 other groups were burn wound that assigned in two subgroups of six to be studied in two time periods of 7 and 21 days. Burn groups at each time period included burn control group that was not treated, eucerin group that received topical eucerin as a cream base, GA at three different percentages 1, 2 and 5 and silver sulfadiazine, respectively. Macroscopic examinations were done on days 7, 14 and 21 and percentage of wound healing of burn tissues calculated on days 7 and 21. Biochemical factors, including malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels and catalase activity were determined in wound tissue and serum. Skin hydroxyproline level and histological examination were done by two methods of hematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s trichrome staining. GA as well as silver sulfadiazine improved wound healing and wound closure. In GA treated groups, the GSH levels and the activity rate of catalase in wound tissue and serum and tissue hydroxyproline significantly increased and the MDA levels decreased. The histopathologic findings in groups treated with different percentages of GA improved and this improvement was percentage dependent. It is concluded that the use of GA was beneficial in the treatment of burn due to its antioxidant effect, and burn wound healing improved with increasing of GA concentration

Keywords:

Burn , Oxidative Stress , Gallic Acid , Wound Healing , Rat