BACKGROUND: The current study investigated the antimicrobial, immunological and healing effects of Melipona subnitida honey on infected wounds of rat skin. METHOD: Wistar rats were anesthetized with sodium thiopental 20mg/Kg IP and ketamine 30 mg/kg IM. We evaluated the effects of honey using rats by generating 1 cm² full-thickness skin wounds on the dorsum. The wounds of Group C rats (not infected) were treated daily with topic saline solution (0.9%) and in the Group HONEY (not infected) the wounds were treated with topic honey once a day. In the Groups C/I (infected) and HONEY/I (infected) the wounds were inoculated with polymicrobial solution, and tissue bacterial culture was performed 24 hours later. These wounds were treated with topic saline solution and honey, respectively. In the third day of treatment it was made a new bacterial culture. After epithelialization, wound tissue biopsies were used for cytokines dosage and histology. RESULTS: The HONEY/I wounds showed more rapid healing and re-epithelialization than in the other groups, and the difference was significant (p<0.05). It was observed that the density of collagen, fibroblasts, macrophages and the expression of TNF-á, IL1-â and Il-6 were higher on the HONEY/I wounds then in the other groups. After the treatment with honey, the amount of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in the infected wounds decreased significantly. CONCLUSION: The results may encourage the use of honey in skin infected wounds because it stimulated cytokine production, reduced the healing time and had antibacterial activity.
Honey; Bee; Hymenoptera; Wound Healing; Cytokines; Anti-bacterial agents; Infection; Rat
