Effect of a Sclerosing Solution on Experimental Wound Healing in the Rat

¹ Indiana University School of Dentistry, Department of Oral Pathology, Indianapolis, Indiana

Sixty male albino rats were used in the study of the effects of sodium psylliate on experimental soft-tissue wound healing. Each animal was subjected to three uniform surgical skin incisions in three different abdominal skin test areas. Each test area had been injected, 4 days prior to wound induction, with a single dose of 0.5 ml. of sodium psylliate, benzyl alcohol, or saline. At the end of the 4-day healing period (8 days after the injection of the test solutions), the 40 surviving animals were sacrificed, and histologic studies of the wounds were made.

Sodium psylliate and benzyl alcohol appeared to retard the healing process, as evidenced by lack of demarcation of the area of cellular reaction, a severe diffuse inflammatory reaction, and minimal collagen formation. Foci of calcification were encountered in both sodium psylliate and benzyl alcohol wounds with a noticeably higher incidence in the former.