In Vivo Morphological and Morphometric Evaluation of Wound Healing Treated with Chitosan/Xanthan/ β-Glucan Biopolymer and Autologous Platelet Rich Plasma

Promising results in the regeneration of skin lesions have been demonstrated with the use of natural (organic) products, such as dermal dressings made of polysaccharides (chitosan complexed with xanthan), as they promote a hydrated and thermally insu-lating microenvironment, allowing gas exchange; and sources rich in growth factors such as autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRPa), which contains transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), vascular endothelial (VEGF) and platelet-derived (PDGF), re-sponsible for stimulating the inflammatory cascade and healing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the action of a polymeric membrane (chitosan, xanthan and β-glycan) and PRPa on healing in vivo, used alone or in combination. For the tests, rabbits un-derwent a surgical procedure to induce the lesion and were distributed into a control group (GC), membrane group (GM), PRPa group (GPa) and membrane group associated with PRPa (GMPa), evaluated at moments M0, M7, M14, M21 and M28 (28 days). Wound color and exudation, presence of infection and inflammation, formation of granulation, scarring and necrotic tissue, morphological and morphometric analysis were evaluated. Statistical analyzes of the results were performed using the Software R® software, adopting a significance level of 5%. While statistical differences between treatments in healing time were not significant (p>0.05), all wounds achieved 100% retraction by M21. Notably, at M7, PRPa alone and in combination with the membrane contributed to higher wound retraction percentages (29.71% and 21.65%, respectively) compared to the control group (16.96%). These findings suggest that the complexed membrane, alone or combined with PRPa, fosters a humid environment, gas exchange, and antimicrobial activity crucial for healing, with PRPa further enhancing early wound retraction. It is concluded that the treatment of experimental surgical wounds with biodressings such as PRPa alone or associated with a complexed membrane of chitosan, xanthan, and β-glycan significantly contributes to wound retraction, in addition to offering a propitious and indispensable environment for the healing cascade, such as a humid environment, gas exchange, and antibacterial action. Future studies should consider a larger number of animals per group, histological evaluation for global tissue assess-ment, and collagen quantification.