Enhanced wound contraction in fresh wounds dressed with honey in Wistar rats (Rattus Novergicus).

BACKGROUND: Due to reports that honey accelerates wound healing, an investigation on its role in wound contraction in fresh wounds inflicted on wistar rats was carried out. METHOD: Twenty adult male wistar rats had 2cm by 2cm square wound inflicted on their right dorsolateral trunk. They were divided into two groups. The experimental group had their wounds dressed with honey while the control group had normal saline dressing. Wound dressing was done every five days and measurements taken at each dressing. Wound morphology was also assessed. RESULTS: Dressing with honey significantly enhanced percentage wound contraction on day 10 with value of 79.20+/-2.94 compared to control value of 53.50+/-4.32. p=0.0. The mean wound measurement on day 10 reduced significantly in honey group, 1.15+/-0.18 compared to control group 2.38+/-0.28. p=0.002. However, there was no significant difference in fibroblast count per high power field in honey group 68.0+/-2.59 compared to control 90.2+/-17.40, p=0.242. Honey dressing increased mean blood vessel count per high power field, 18.8+/-3.77 albeit non significantly when compared to control value of 13.4+/-2.44, p=0.264. Also honey dressing caused increased granulation tissue formation in wounds dressed with honey compared to control group. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that honey dressing enhances wound contraction in fresh wounds which is one of the key features of wound healing.

A comparative study of the wound healing properties of honey and Ageratum conyzoides.

The present study investigates the wound healing properties of methanolic extracts of Ageratum conyzoides leaves compared with those of honey. Thirty Wistar rats were randomized into 3 groups of 10 animals each. They were fed with standard rat cubes and Tap water weighed and acclimatized to laboratory conditions for one week. Under anesthesia, each animal had the skin of its dorsolateral flank shaved after which an area of the skin was excised. On achieving haemostasis, the wounds were packed with gauze soaked in the appropriate dressing for each group. Measurement of wound size, and wound biopsies were taken on the 10th day post-wound creation. Together with healed wound samples, these were processed for histology. Fibroblast and blood vessel densities per unit area of wound were determined for the healed wound samples. Histologically, the day 10 Ageratum sections showed fewer inflammatory cells compared with similar honey and Control sections. Also, healed scar sections of wounds dressed with the herb extract showed more fibrosis. Honey and Ageratum caused significant greater wound contraction than controls (p = 0.001 and 0.005 respectively). Healed wounds from the Ageratum group had significantly fewer fibroblasts than honey and controls (p = 0.012 and 0.036 respectively).

The prevalence of hand pain in Ibadan--implications for the carpal tunnel syndrome.

Hand pain or brachialgia paraesthetica nocturna (BPN) is a series of symptoms described as "waking up at night due to unpleasant sensations in the fingers" (Dekrom et al, 1992). Usually, these symptoms form the first rungs up the ladder leading up to the carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) (Skandalakis et al, 1992), and thus are used as part of the diagnostic criteria for the disorder. We describe the results of a questionnaire survey of 422 patients attending two major hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria for complaints unrelated to hand pathology. Questions related to the bio-data (including type of occupation), general health status, past medical and/or surgical history, and finally hand symptoms of the patients. For a patient to be positive for BPN, the hand symptoms had to correspond to the cutaneous distribution of the median nerve. Positive cases formed 12.75% of all interviewees in one hospital and 19.59% of respondents in the other, with females forming the bulk of those affected. This figure is somewhat higher than the ones previously reported. From earlier work on the predictive value of BPN for the carpal tunnel syndrome we conservatively estimate that between 20% and 38% of individuals in our study group will suffer from CTS. The relationship of heavy hand-use to BPN was a negative one as most sufferers of BPN were light hand-users. However, individual occupations requiring highly repetitive flexion-extension wrist movements recorded many BPN cases. No BPN case was confirmed when the patients presented in hospital, indicating that more awareness of the symptoms and signs of this disorder needs to be created among doctors and the general public. Also, we believe that more investigations, particularly among the general population, are needed to be able to define the prevalence of this condition more accurately.