Morphological, morphometric, histopathological and thermographic evaluation of skin flaps treated with phytotherapy ointment of Anthurium affine Schott in rats
Wound, wild anthurium, herbal medicine, infrared radiation.
The objective of this work was to evaluate, by infrared thermography, morphometry and macro and microscopic morphology, the healing activity of the ointment composed of hydroalcoholic extract of Anthurium affine Schott in dorsal cranial-based random cutaneous flaps in male Wistar rats (n=18), with 90 days of age and randomly divided into three groups: Absolute Control Group (GCA) – animals without treatment (n=06); Control Group (GC) - animals treated with the ointment base (n=6); Treated Group (TG) – animals treated with A. affine Schott ointment (n=6). Each animal was submitted to the making of 8 cm long by 2 cm wide skin flaps. The GC and GT received treatment every 24 hours for 7 days. All groups were evaluated with thermography after shaving, after surgery and every 24 hours until the eighth day, when they were euthanized. On the last day of the experiment, the wounds were measured with a digital caliper to assess the area of necrosis. The histological sections of the cranial, medial and caudal portions of the flaps were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin and Trichrome of Gomori for morphometric and morphological analysis by quantification of blood vessels and determination of collagen structuring. The data obtained were submitted to the ANOVA test complemented by the Tukey test (p<0.05). Infrared thermography has been shown to be an effective method for evaluating areas of skin flap necrosis. Treatment with ointment containing hydroalcoholic extract of A. affine Schott favored angiogenesis in the caudal portion of the flaps in GT. However, we emphasize that further studies are needed with different concentrations of the extract.