title: Physical reparative treatment in reptiles.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The tissue growth necessary to achieve a complete or partial restitution ad integrum as a result of injury to soft tissue and/or hard times in reptiles is variable and often needs long time in relation to the species, to the habitat and to their intrinsic physiological characteristics. The purpose of this work was to see if the tissue optimization (TO) treatment with radio electric asymmetric conveyer (REAC) provided good results in these animals and whether its use translates into reduced time of tissue repair. This paper describes preliminary results with in promoting the tissue repair in reptiles.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 5 year old male Testudo graeca (Leo) and Trachemys scripta scripta (Mir) and a 15 year old female Testudo hermanni (Juta) were evaluated because of soft tissue injuries. A female 25 year old Trachemys scripta elegans (Ice), a female 2.5 year old Trachemys scripta scripta (Penelope) as well as a 50 year old male Testudo graeca (Margherito) were evaluated because of wounds of the carapace. Following debridement and traditional therapies, Leo, Penelope and Margherito were exposed to the radio electric asymmetric conveyer (REAC) device, with a specific treatment protocol, named tissue optimization-basic (TO-B). Also Ice and Mir were subjected to REAC treatment after wounds debridement. Juta was treated only with REAC treatment. Complete wound healing was evident after 17 days for Leo, 7 days for Penelope, 27 days for Mir, 78 days for Ice and after 14 days for Margherito. Juta showed a considerable tissue activation in 2 days and complete wound healing in 5 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that REAC TO-B treatment may provide advantages over other traditional methods after complete wound healing in Leo, and also suitable healing in the other patients. Then REAC device with its specific treatment TO-B protocol, which induces tissue repair without causing severe stress to the patient, could be a potential therapy for tissue damage healing in reptiles. Further studies still need to be conducted to support our observations.
authors: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Rinaldi Fontani Institute, Viale Belfiore 43, Florence 50144, Italy. srinaldi@irf.it
authors: Salvatore
authors: S
authors: Rinaldi
authors: Maddalena
authors: M
authors: Iannaccone
authors: Gian Enrico
authors: GE
authors: Magi
authors: Emanuela
authors: E
authors: Costantini
authors: Alessandro
authors: A
authors: Castagna
authors: Eraldo
authors: E
authors: Sanna Passino
authors: Margherita
authors: M
authors: Maioli
authors: Vania
authors: V
authors: Fontani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D000078702:Radiofrequency Therapy; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000628:therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D014426:Turtles / Q000254:growth & development / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects