Assessment of Exposure and Interruption of Nicotine During Wound Healing in Wistar Rats

Abstract

Clinical and experimental evidences show that the use of nicotine has deleterious effects on wound healing, although there are still many doubts among surgeons and health teams with regard to the interruption that should precede interventions. Wistar rats, divided into three groups (G1, G2 and G3), received daily subcutaneous doses of 2 mg/kg nicotine during 4 weeks. G1 did not interrupt use during 10 days after surgery; G2 interrupted nicotine use a week prior to surgery; G3 interrupted during two weeks before surgery and did not take nicotine during ten days after surgical procedure. Wound-healing parameters during the proliferation phase were analyzed by light microscopy and stained with HE and special stains for collagen analysis (Masson´s Trichromium and Verhoeff). A fibrin-leukocyte crust, a visible disorder of collagen and a granulation tissue deficiency occurred in G1 when compared to G2 and G3. Average scores of the three groups (p=0.028) were significant and significant statistical differences between G1 and G3 existed (p<0.05) by Tukey-Kramer´s post-test. Statistically significant difference existed in the granulation (p=0.0008) and collagen (p=0,049) tissues. Results show that a greater and more efficient wound-healing occurred when nicotine was interrupted for one or two weeks, which may be recommended for smoking patients in the pre- and post-surgery periods.