Microscopic Study of the Healing Effects of the Mixture of Olive Oil and Lime Water on the Second Degree Burning in Rats

Burning injuries are among physical and chemical destructive phenomena which sometimes cause death . Anti bacterial effects of olive oil and lime water has been proved previously. Olive oil and lime water are used to treat burning injuries in Iran by traditional practitioners . The aim of this study was a microscopic survey on the healing effects of olive oil and lime water on second degree burning injuries in rat .
Material & In this study, 36 Wistar rats were used. After the production of a second degree burning injury, the rats were randomly divided into three groups. The first group were treated with the combination of olive oil and lime water, the second group were treated with silver sulfadiazine 1% and the third group received normal saline. Untill the end of the 4th week 3 of the rats were killed each week and tissue specimens were taken from them. Afterwards microscopic slides were made of them. The slides were studied qualitatively using a light microscope. The number of blood vessels were counted in the surface unit too.
Findings: The number of blood vessels enhanced with the time. This enhancement is more in the group of olive oil and lime water. With the maturity of the wounds the number of the vessels reduced. Qualitative study showed that olive oil and lime water treat the injuries faster and vascularization, granulation tissue growth and maturity and epithelialization were faster in this group.
Discussion & Olive oil and lime water can be used as a cheap treatment for second burning injuries.