Histological investigation of the effects of western diet on pressure wound healing period

Abstract

Objective: The stages of skin wound healing are a dynamic process and it is thought to be related to nutrition. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats have particular importance in different periods of recovery process.  Our study has aimed to examine the effects of a western diet with high protein, fat, and carbohydrate content on pressure ulcer healing.

Material and Methods: In this study, we used 22 healthy male Sprague Dawley rats weighing 100-185 g. We randomly divided the rats into two groups. The rats were fed according to the indicated diets (standard diet and western diet). On the first day of the fourth week, ischemia skin by histopathological examinations of the wound tissue samples on the 7th and 14th days of the wound healing period.

Results: Statistically significant differences were observed in histological and immunohistochemical parameters in the tissue samples on the 7th and 14th days. On the 7th day, there were re-epithelialization (P=0.003), granulation cell density (P=0.004), inflammation (P=0.004), and angiogenesis (P= 0.003). We found re-epithelialization (P=0.001), granulation cell density (P=0.002), inflammation (P=0.002), and angiogenesis (P=0.001) on the 14th day. On the 7th and 14th days, we found the p-value between Ki-67 immunohistochemical staining percentages as P= 0.003 and the p-value for VEGF as P=0.002.

Conclusion: We determined that in short-term wound healing, the western type diet was more effective on pressure wound healing than the standard diet.