Prevention of post-surgical adhesion bands by local administration of frankincense n-hexane extract

and purpose: The formation of postoperative intra-abdominal adhesion band formation may lead to severe complications. This study aimed to evaluate the preventive effect of local administration of frankincense n-hexane extract (FHE) on the formation of postsurgical adhesion bands.

FHE was extracted from the resin of a Boswellia sacra tree and its components were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In an animal model, the expression levels of TNF-α and TGF-β1 cytokines after application of FHE were assessed to check the inflammatory and fibrotic cues, respectively.

Following FHE compound analysis, in vivo experiments demonstrated that intraoperative local administration of FHE resulted in the prevention of adhesion band formation. The adhesion grades in the FHE-treated group were significantly lower than those in the negative control (NC) and the positive control (Interceed). The infiltration of inflammatory cells observed by histopathology revealed a significant anti-inflammatory potential of FHE. Furthermore, the gene expression results proved that significant suppression of TNF-α and TGF-β1 was responsible for its antiadhesion properties.

The study reported the potential of FHE as an ointment for the prevention of adhesion bands.