Investigating effect of ghee on treating second-degree burn wound in rats

High costs of treatment and rehabilitation lead to increased tendency of researchers in complementary therapies and using the compounds which have natural origin and are cheaper. Sheep ghee, known as yellow oil, is one of the compounds used in many parts of Iran for wound healing. Considering that few studies have been performed on the effect and rate of these materials on burn wound healing, the present work is aimed to investigate the effect of ghee on burn wound healing in rats.
In this experimental study which was performed in the animal lab of the Hazrat Fatemeh Hospital in Tehran, 36 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats with the relative weight of 250-300 g were selected and second-degree burn with the area of 2×4 cm was induced in them. Then, they were randomly divided into 3 groups, 12 in each. To dress the burn point in 1 to 3 groups, silver sulfadiazine cream, ghee, and Vaseline were used, respectively. The evaluation process was monitored by photography with 5 days intervals using an accurate ruler and ImageJ software, version 1.45 (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). On the 17th and 30th days, Tissue biopsies was performed for the epithelialization rate, degree and arrangement of collagen, and chronic and acute inflammatory cells, the sample of burn wound was sent for pathological investigation.
Results showed that, wound area was significantly reduced in ghee, and Vaseline groups compared with silver sulfadiazine cream on days 5th, 15th, and 25th (P= 0.001). however, the difference between ghee and Vaseline group was not significant. In the 17-day time period, results of collagen arrangement (P= 0.000) and epithelialization results (P= 0.04), acute inflammatory cells (P= 0.001), and fibroplasias (P= 0.000) in 30th day were significantly better in ghee, and Vaseline groups.
This study showed that, in contrast to the public belief in some regions in Iran, ghee could not accelerate healing of burn wound and promote histopathological indices. Therefore, they are not recommended.