A Comparative Study of Chitosan Gel and Soframycin in the Management of Wounds

Wounds and related injuries remain a major cause of death and disability. Healing of wound is a complex, highly regulated process that includes cellular, molecular, biochemical, and physiological events that permit living organisms to repair accidental lesions. Therefore, dealing with wounds has always been a subject of concern to the world, and demand for products in wound management had increased to $9.3 trillion worldwide in the health care industry, affecting economic growth. The present work aimed to assess the wound healing effect of chitosan, and a comparative profile with soframycin is established in experimental animals. Enormous research reports, the wound healing properties of chitosan, but the protective mechanism implicated in wound healing activity of chitosan is unknown. In addition to this, we evaluated the anatomical, macroscopical, and histopathological alterations in wounds of experimental rats. Collagenase activity was performed to determine the granulation tissue formation and epithelialization of wounds treated with untainted chitosan. Wounds treated with glycerated chitosan gel, that is, GCG-3 (high degree of deacetylation), showed faster healing with highest percentage of contraction as compared with the soframycin-treated group. The healing of wounds was found to be 85% in GCG-3 on the sixth day of treatment, showing significant (P < .001) improvement in epithelial tissue. The collagenase activity in GCG-3 was 192 unit/mg of protein. Wound reepithelialization was found to be to 94 ± 4% in case of the GCG-3-treated group and 87 ± 5% in the soframycin-treated group. Higher degree of deacetylation in the chitosan, GCG-3, warrants its use in the treatment and management of dermal wounds.