Biomedical Research

An animal study of the effect of different classes of organic calcium channel blockers in wound healing. Calcium channel blockers (CCB) have been shown experimentally to modulate cellular proliferation, maturation of keratinocytes and fibroblasts. We conducted this study to determine the effect of calcium channel blockers on an excision wound model. A total of 24 Wistar male rats were divided into four groups each of which were treated with one of the following drugs: verapamil, diltiazem nimodipine or normal saline after excision wound. Primary outcome was percentage reduction of the wound at 7th and 14th post-operative days. Compared to normal saline, CCB caused a highly significant percentage reduction of wound area on days 7 and 14. CCB enhanced the wound healing process compared to normal saline. The median percentage reduction of wound surface area at 7th day in the saline group with interquartile range was 22.56 (19.79-29.41) and that for the verapamil group 35.29 (31.84-54.58), diltiazem 52.45 (41.99-60.55) and nimodipine 47.19 (35.62-54.58) was statistically significant (p<.05) whereas on 14th day for saline it was 39.82 (37.27-44.38) and that for verapamil was 96.73 (93.76-100), diltiazem 91.47 (87.44-94.85) and nimodipine 85.32 (76.81-91.64). Day 14 showed better results when compared to day 7 with a higher level of significance. Topical CCB may be capable of promoting wound-healing activity. Hence, topical CCB may be a suitable alternative to saline in the treatment of wound healing

Author(s): Naman Hirenkumar Shah, Aniket Kumar, N. Kaysina Vazhudhi, A. Blessed Winston, Kalpana Ernest, Margaret Shanthi FX
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