Effects of oral consumption of Kombucha tea on mast cells of skin wounds of rats

Background: Positive effects of Kombucha tea (An old folkloric drink of Asian people) on wound healing process have been observed. Objective: To study its effects on the number of mast cells of wound bed. Materials and Methods: The study design was experimental. 42 male adult rats were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. Each group was divided into 3 subgroups. The time of study of first subgroups were 4 days (Represents inflammation phase of wound healing process), of second subgroups were 7 days (Proliferation phase) and of third subgroups were 15 days (Remodeling phase) after wounding. Both groups drank Kombucha tea for 30 days. Then under general anesthesia and sterile conditions, a full thickness wound was made on the dorsum of all rats. The wounding day was considered as day zero. Rats of experimental group drank Kombucha tea after surgery until they were killed by ether at the end of above-mentioned durations. Samples were obtained from rats and prepared for light microscopical study and stained with 1% watery solution of toluidine blue. Mast cells and its grades (According to it’s degranulations) were counted. Data were analyzed by students t test method. Results: Main results were: 1) Total number of most cells of experimental group decreased from 7th day toward 15th day and on 15th day, the difference with control group was significant (P<0.01); 2) In most cases the numbers of mast cells of experimental group were lower than control group and the difference were significant for the 4th day grade 1, 15th day grade 2 (P<0.05) and total number of grades 2 and 3 (P<0.01). Conclusion: Daily consumption of Kombucha tea by rats caused a decreased number of mast cells during skin wound healing and the difference with control group at remodeling phase was significant.