Effects of Drone Brood Homogenate on Wound Healing: An Experimental Study on Rats

Wound healing is one of the most interesting topics in orthopaedic surgery, and there are many studies on the factors and mechanisms affecting this process.

To evaluated the macroscopic and histopathological results of drone larvae homogenate (DLH) on wound healing in a full-thickness wound model.

Thirty male wistar rats (6-8 weeks, 250 ± 50 g) were used. A uniform circular full-thickness wound of approximately 18.44 ± 1.45 (control), 19.02 ± 1.24 (silverdin), 19.37 ± 1.28 (DLH) mm² was excised on the back of each rat. They were divided into control (n: 10), silverdin (n: 10) and DLH (n: 10) groups. DLH, collected from the beehive for 3-7 days in late spring and ready for use after homogenization and lyophilization. Two mL of physiological saline, silver sulfadiazine 1% and DLH were applied to the control, silverdin and DLH groups, respectively, and a thin layer that completely covered the wound, and repeated every 2 days for all groups for 14 days. The condition of the lesions was observed every 2 days and the amount of contraction and granulation tissue formed in the lesion was recorded. The lesioned areas was examined histopathologically.

There was no statistically significant difference in lymphocyte, fibroblast, scar thickness, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL), minivascular density (CD34) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) among the control, silverdin and DLH groups (p = 0.771, 0.434, 0.07, 0.396). The scar density of the DLH group was found to be higher than the control and silverdin groups (p = 0.003). The average wound diameter of the control group (6.87 ± 0.93 mm²) on the 10th day was found to be higher than the silverdin (4.39 ± 1.15 mm²) and DLH groups (4.16 ± 0.55 mm²) (p = 0.0001).

DLH has a positive effect on wound healing, especially by ensuring early wound contraction and wound scar formation.