Abstract Purpose: To investigate the therapeutic potential of honey, Nigella sativa (N. sativa) and their combination in rat model of excisional wound healing. Methods: A circular excision wound was established in the back region of 50 Wistar rats. Subsequently, they were divided into 5 groups and daily topical administration of lanolin in the control group, honey in the honey group, cold-pressed N. sativa seed oil in the N. sativa groups, mix of 1:1 ratio of honey and N. sativa seed oil in the mix group, and phenytoin cream in the phenytoin group were used. Then, wound surface areas were evaluated using digital camera immediately after the injury and at post excision days 5, 10, 15 and 20. Results: Significant reduction in wound surface area was observed within and between the groups (P < 0.001). In the post excision days 5, 10, 15 and 20 the wound surface areas in the mix group were significantly lower than the other groups followed by the phenytoin, honey, N. sativa, and control groups. Conclusion: The wound healing may be improved and accelerated by using topical solutions of honey, N. sativa seed oil and especially their mixture.

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of sodium hyaluronate, sesame oil, honey, and silver nanoparticles in preventing of postoperative surgical adhesion formation. Methods: Forty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into five groups with eight rats in each group including control, hyaluronate, sesame, honey and silver groups. After two weeks the animals underwent laparotomy and were evaluated by two different blinded surgeons for severity of adhesions based on the two different classification scoring systems including Nair classification and cumulative adhesion scoring scale. Results: The scores of severity of adhesions in the hyaluronate and sesame groups were significantly lower than the control group based on the Nair classification (both P-values = 0.02), however based on the cumulative adhesion scoring scale just the score of severity of adhesions in the hyaluronate group was significantly lower than the control group (P-value = 0.02). In the hyaluronate group the severity of adhesions was decreased by 48% based on the cumulative adhesion scoring scale. Conclusions: Sodium hyaluronate and sesame oil may have a significant effect in preventing postoperative surgical adhesion formation.

The ultimate goal of tissue engineering is to design and fabricate functional human tissues that are similar to natural cells and are capable of regeneration. Preparation of cell aggregates is one of the important steps in 3D tissue engineering technology, particularly in organ printing. Two simple methods, hanging drop (HD) and conical tube (CT) were utilized to prepare cell aggregates. The size and viability of the aggregates obtained at different initial cell densities and pre-culture duration were compared. The proliferative ability of the cell aggregates and their ability to spread in culture plates were also investigated. In both methods, the optimum average size of the aggregates was less than 500 µm. CT aggregates were smaller than HD aggregates. 5,000 cells per drop HD aggregates showed a marked ability to attach and spread on the culture surface. The proliferative ability reduced when the initial cell density was increased. Comparing these methods, we found that the HD method having better size controlling ability as well as enhanced ability to maintain higher rates of viability, spreading, and proliferation. In conclusion, smaller HD aggregates might be a suitable choice as building blocks for making bioink particles in bioprinting technique.

The effects of human versus mouse EGF on cell growth and culture duration were studied to optimize a human limbal stem cells culture method for therapeutical autologous transplantation. Limbal cells were obtained by trypsin digestion and transferred to a culture medium. The time needed to reach full confluence in culture was determined. Specific antibodies to corneal stem cell marker (P63) versus corneal epithelial differentiation marker (K3) were used for histochemical determinations. A high proportion of P63 positive cells (85± 4.6%), and a correspondingly low proportion K3 positive cells (15 ± 3.8%) indicated that most cultured cells remained undifferentiated and were considered as stem cells (mean ± SE, n=10). Cultures reached full confluency after 17.3 ± 1.2 days when the medium was supplemented with human EGF, while 21.7 ± 1.5 days were needed when the medium was supplemented with mouse EGF. The results showed that limbal stem cells proliferate more easily and reach to full confluency in a shorter time if the medium is supplemented with hEGF rather than with mEGF.