Research ArticleOpen Access

The Effect of Low-level Laser Therapy and Calendula Officinalis Linn. On Cutaneous Wound Healing in Rats

Volume 8 - Issue 2

Diego Guimarães Openheimer¹, Geraldo Magela Salomé²*, Margarida Maria de Carvalho Resende², Paulo Calafiori Resende³, Cibele Maria Ferreira da Silva⁴, Marcelo Renato Massahud Junior¹, Brumo mendes¹ and Lydia Masako Ferreira⁵

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- ¹College of Health Sciences, Sapucaí Valley University (UNIVÁS), Brazil
- ²Professional master’s Program in Applied Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Brazil
- ³College of Health Sciences, Sapucaí Valley University (UNIVÁS), Brazil
- ⁴College of Health Sciences, UNIVÁS, Brazil
- ⁵Full Professor at the Division of Plastic Surgery, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brazil
*Corresponding author: Geraldo Magela Salomé, Professional Master’s Program in Applied Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Brazil

Received: August 11, 2018; Published: August 21, 2018

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.08.001616

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Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of low-level laser therapy and extract of Calendula officinalis Linn. (calendula), alone or in combination, on cutaneous wound healing in rats.

Setting: A university research center.

Design: A prospective, interventional, randomized, controlled experimental study. Forty-eight female Wistar rats, aged 3 to 4 months, were divided into 4 groups of 12 animals each. A skin wound was surgically made in the dorsal region of each animal and treated for 21 days with either low-level laser therapy (laser group), calendula extract gel (calendula group), laser therapy combined with calendula extract gel (laser + calendula group) or received no treatment (control group). Data collection was performed immediately after surgery and on postoperative days 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21.

Main Outcome Measures: Measurement of the wound area was performed by tracing the contour of the wound on a sterile polypropylene film placed over the wound. The drawing was transferred to the Auto Cad software to determine the size of the wound area.

Results: No significant differences in wound area size were found among groups up to the postoperative day 6. After 9 days of treatment, the laser group showed a significantly greater reduction in wound area compared to the other groups.

Conclusion: Laser therapy alone contributed more to wound healing in rats than the treatment with calendula extract gel alone or combined with laser therapy

Keywords: Laser; Calendula Officinalis; Healing; Surgical Wound

Summary

The effects of low-level laser therapy and extract of Calendula officinalis Linn. (calendula), alone or in combination, on cutaneous wound healing in rats were evaluated in 48 Wistar rats. Low-level laser therapy alone contributed more to wound healing in rats than the treatment with calendula extract, alone or in combination. The effect of low-level laser therapy and extract of Calendula officinalis Linn. on cutaneous wound healing in rats