The effects of cream-based Triticum vulgare with and without therapeutic ultrasound on excisional wound healing in diabetic rats

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effect of Triticum vulgare (TVE) alone or combined with therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) on wound healing in a diabetic rat model.

Materials and Methods

A total of 72 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: Group Control, wounded rats without treatment; Group TUS, wounded rats with TUS application; Group TVE, wounded rats treated with TVE; and Group TVE + TUS, wounded rats treated with TVE + TUS. Wound healing was assessed using wound area calculation and thermographic, biochemical, histopathologic, immunohistochemical, and immunofluorescence analyses on post-wounding days 7, 14, and 21.

Results

On day 21, the wound surface area was significantly decreased in Group TVE + TUS (0.18 ± 0.07 cm²) compared to the other groups (p < 0.001). A significant increase in wound area temperature was recorded on days 7, 14, and 21 in all groups compared to day 0 (p < 0.001). On day 21, Group TVE + TUS (35.4 ± 0.2 °C) had the most significantly highest wound area temperature compared to the other groups (p < 0.001). The highest histopathological scores were recorded in Group TVE + TUS on days 7, 14, and 21 (p = 0.04). The highest vascular endothelial growth factor expression was observed in Group TVE + TUS (82.53 ± 1.98) on day 7 (p = 0.03).

Conclusion

In conclusion, treatment with a combination of TVE and TUS effectively enhanced wound healing in diabetic rats compared with other treatment groups.

Keywords:

• Diabetes
• phonophoresis
• rat
• Triticum vulgare
• wound healing

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Serkan Yıldırım, Betül Apaydın Yildirim and Sitkican Okur for their support in histopathological, biochemical and statistical analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.