Effect of hyaluronic acid on skin healing in diabetic rats

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of topical hyaluronic acid (HA) treatment on wound healing in diabetic rats. Methods: Wistar rats weighing 279 ± 32g were randomly selected and allocated into 2 groups, with six rats each, all submitted to diabetes induction with streptozotocin. Under anesthesia, a 1 cm² open wound was made on the back skin of all animals. Group 1 - rats treated with topical 0.9% saline use on open skin wounds. Group 2 - rats treated with topical use of 0.4% HA over skin lesions. After anesthesia on the 10th postoperative day, a biopsy of the skin dorsal wound area, including the entire healing wound, was performed for histopathological examination. Quantitative analysis was performed for the amount of macrophages, vascular neoformation, fibroblasts and collagen fibers, using a digitizer and image analyzer system. Results: All animals included in the study had blood glucose above 250mg/dL on the second day after streptozotocin administration and remained with high blood glucose until the 10th day, when the study was completed. After quantitative evaluation of collagen fibers, fibroblasts, vascular neoformation and macrophages performed in the ImagePro Plus 6.0 software, it was observed that the wound scores of diabetic animals treated with hyaluronic acid (185 ± 15.7) were significantly higher than those treated with saline (134 ± 11.7). The difference was statistically significant (p <0.05). Conclusion: Treatment of open wounds with HA effectively improved the healing process in hyperglycemic rats through an anti-inflammatory effect. This study suggests and provided evidence that topical use of HA is promising in the treatment of wounds in diabetic rats.