Effect of Wound Dressing with Fresh Kiwifruit on healing of Cutaneous Wound in Rats

Background: The kiwi fruit is known to have dramatic antibacterial, debridement, wound contracture, and angiogenic effects. We propose that kiwifruit is an ideal candidate to enhance the process of wound healing. The present study assessed the effects of wound kiwifruit dressing on cutaneous wound healing in rat. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 30 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 2 groups of control and kiwifruit group. A full-thickness dermal incision (35mm length) was made on the right side of the paravertebral region. In the control group, one day after wound induction wounds was dressed with Vaseline sterile gauze after normal saline irrigation. In the second group, the wounds were dressed with kiwifruit. Wound healing was evaluated by measuring surface area, percentage of healing, duration of healing, and wound tensile strength. Results: Obtained results showed that the duration of wound healing in kiwi group in comparison with the control was significantly decreased. The amount of wound healing in percent was also significantly different between control and kiwi groups at days 3, 6 (p<0.001), 9 (p<0.05), 12 and 14 (p<0.01). Comparisons of wound length between control and kiwi group per day showed that kiwi group had significantly lower wound length on day 9, 12, 14 and 16 (p<0.01, 0.001, 0.01 and 0.01, respectively) in comparisons to control group. Also, the wound tensile strength in kiwi group also was significantly greater than the control animals (p<0.01). Conclusion: We concluded that our study provides some evidence to support the use of kiwi to accelerate wound healing.