The effect of lavender oil on wound healing in rats with pressure ulcer model

Pressure ulcer is frequently seen especially in geriatric patients, patients in need of care and patients with neurological disorders. It is a serious health problem due to its high mortality rate and high financial cost of treatment. This study was planned to prevent pressure ulcers and improve treatment options. It was aimed to investigate the effect of Lavender oil on the healing of pressure ulcers using a pressure model that is inexpensive, easy to create and adjustable according to the needs of the researcher. Therefore. A 3 cm full-thickness skin incision was made on the back of each rat and an autoclaved magnet disk (2 x 10 mm diameter, 2.4 g weight, approximately 2000 G magnetic force) was placed under the skin caudal to the incision. The incision was closed with 4/0 polysorb suture. After 2 hours of constant clamping with another magnet disk on the skin, the external magnet was removed for 0.5 hours. The clamping/removal cycle was repeated 5 times in the first 12 hours. Afterwards, the clamped area was left exposed. The total I/R time will be 72 hours. At the end of this period, Stage 3 explants were created. After modeling, the rats were randomly divided into groups with 8 rats in each group: : Group I (Negative Control group): this group did not receive modeling and treatment. Group II (PU group): pressure sores were observed in this group. Group III (PU+isotonic group): this group was treated with 0.9% isotonic NaCl dressing. Group IV (Lavender group): the wound site was treated with daily Lavender oil dressing. All rats in all groups were sacrificed after 14 days by taking tissue samples. Histological evaluation, granulation tissue increase, angiogenesis and re-epithelialization levels, inflammation, VEGF, collagen measurement, TGFβ enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay were performed. It was predicted that lavender oil would have anti-inflammatory effect, increase fibrosis and vascularization, increase TGF- β expression, VEGF expression, increase collagen and increase contraction and help the wound site to mature earlier. If the pressure wound healing studies of lavender oil continue, it will become a possible agent to be used in the clinic as an alternative treatment. Key Words: Lavandula angustifolia, pressure ulcer, bedsore, decubitus ulcer