title: Investigation of acute effects of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort-Kantaron) treatment in experimental thermal burns and comparison with silver sulfadiazine treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypericum perforatum (HP) (St. John's Wort-Kantaron) has been used widely for the treatment of burn injuries for many years in traditional Turkish medicine. The aim of study was to investigate HP treatment in experimental thermal burns and compare it with silver sulfadiazine (SS) treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-five rats were randomly assigned to one of the five groups, 7 rats in each. A second-degree thermal burn was created on the dorsal sites of rats by exposing an area of 4×4 cm to 100 °C boiled water for 10 seconds. All groups were provided with irrigation for three (3) minutes with 50 cc saline solution (SS). Group 1 (Control Group) was not administered any treatment. Group 2 (Burn Control Group) was administered only irrigation, Group 3 (topical silver sulfadiazine [SS]) was administered SS twice a day, Group 4 (the Topical HP Group) was administered HP four times a day (every six hours), Group 5 (treatment with agent -gel-) was administered other topical material used for the preparation of HP four times a day (every six hours). Wound site healing on the skin was histopathologically evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was found that collagen discoloration of the HP treatment group was localized in the lower part of the epidermal layer and did not go up to the depth of dermis compared to the other groups, and epidermis, hair follicles and sebaceous glands remained protected compared to the groups administered burn, gel and SS in every hour of the experiment and it was the group closest to the control group structurally. It was determined that the epidermal thickness and the number of vessels of the HP Group were significantly higher compared to the other groups (p<0.05), which was the group closest to the control group in terms of these parameters and these numbers did not show any difference within hours (p>0.05). The number of degenerated hair follicles in the HP Group was significantly less than the other groups (p <0.05), and it was determined that the total number of hair follicles significantly increased in the twenty-fourth (p<0.05) and this number did not differ by the control group (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Administration of HP four times a day within the first 24 hours is clearly effective in wound healing in the experimental thermal second degree burn modality and is significantly superior to SS treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Selahattin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kıyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Cord Blood, Cell and Tissue Research and Application Centre, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yiğit
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uyanıkgil
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yusuf Ali
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Altuncı
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Cord Blood, Cell and Tissue Research and Application Centre, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Türker
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Çavuşoğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Ege University Faculty of Pharmacy, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Emel Öykü
authors.initials: EÖ
authors.lastname: Çetin Uyanıkgil
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Ege University Faculty of Science, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Karabey
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000818:Animals; D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002056:Burns / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D020902:Hypericum; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012837:Silver Sulfadiazine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012837:Silver Sulfadiazine