title: The effect of dressing with fresh kiwifruit on burn wound healing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was designed to evaluate the wound healing effects of kiwifruit in the treatment of second-degree burn wounds in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty rats were each randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. A deep second-degree burn was created on the lateral flank of each rat with a standard burning procedure in the form of applying a heated plaque. In the control group (group C; n = 20) burns were dressed with Vaseline sterile gauze after normal saline irrigation. In group S (n = 20), the lesions were treated with silver sulfadiazine cream after normal saline irrigation. In the third group (group K; n = 20), the burn wounds were dressed with kiwifruit. The dressings were changed twice a day in all groups. The response to treatments was assessed histologically at day 21 postburn and microbiologically on days 7 and 21. Macroscopic evaluation was performed every day to determine wound closure rate, measure burn wound area, and investigate macroscopic edema, hyperemia, and epithelialization. Histopathologic evaluation included monitoring of epithelialization, vascularization, granulation tissue formation, and inflammatory cell response.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On day 21, the wounds in the group K healed completely in comparison to other groups (P < .0001). There was significant reduction in wound area size in the group K in all evaluation days as compared with groups S and C (P < .0001). Microscopic evaluation revealed a high grade of neovascularization in group K lesions in contrast with groups S and C (P < .0001). Wound infection was dramatically less common in the group K compared with the other 2 groups (P < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that the dramatic antibacterial, debridement, wound contracture, and angiogenic effect of kiwifruit induced a significant wound healing in burn ulcers and might be useful in treating chronic ulcers, such as bedsores.
authors.affiliation: Thoracic Surgery Department, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mohajeri
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masoudpour
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heidarpour
authors.forename: Elham Fatemeh
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Khademi
authors.forename: Shahab
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghafghazi
authors.forename: Shahriar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adibi
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akbari
mesh_terms: D029042:Actinidia; D000818:Animals; D001458:Bandages; D002056:Burns / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005638:Fruit; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012837:Silver Sulfadiazine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D012837:Silver Sulfadiazine