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Enhanced wound healing in rat cheeks treated with lavender and ginger oils: A histological study
Enas F Kadim1, Zena Wally2, Rasha Dosh3
1Department of Oral Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, University of Baghdad, Iraq.
Objective:
Delayed or impaired skin wound healing can adversely affect cell proliferation, collagen formation, and granulation tissue. This study evaluated the effectiveness of daily topical treatment with lavender and ginger oils in promoting wound healing, by assessing the inflammatory response, re-epithelialization, and wound contraction in rat cheek wound area.
Methods:
A surgical wound of full skin thickness, 2 cm wide and 0.6 cm deep, was made on the cheeks of the animals. Forty albino rats were randomly divided into four experimental study groups of ten rats each: a control group, in which the wounds were left untreated, and three experimental groups in which the wounds were treated with 1 μL lavender oil, or 1 μL ginger oil, or a combination of 0.5 μL lavender oil and 0.5 μL ginger oil. After 5 and 10 days histological examination was conducted, and the mean number of inflammatory cells, epithelial thickness, and degree of wound contraction were measured in the treated and untreated groups. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparison post hoc test was used to identify differences among groups. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
Histological examination revealed faster wound healing in the experimental groups than the control group. Lavender flower oil and ginger oil significantly decreased inflammation, increased epithelial thickness, and promoted wound contraction.
Conclusions:
The study results revealed a noticeable decrease in inflammatory cell counts, with increased epithelial tissue, and improved wound contraction in the groups receiving treatment, compared with the untreated control group. This supported the aim that treatment effectively improves wound healing in albino rats cheeks.
Clinical Significance:
Our findings highlight the potential of the natural, accessible biomaterials of lavender and ginger oils to enhance wound healing in rat cheek tissues, and may pave the way for future research aimed at developing evidence-based therapeutic strategies.
