ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Current medications used for the treatment of
burn wounds have some side effects and disadvantages. Oral or topical administration of
probiotic bacteria is thought to be useful for treatment of skin disorders. The aim of this
study was to evaluate effects of spray-dried Streptococcus thermophilus on healing of
second-degree burn wounds.
Methods: After induction of second-degree burn on back of 80 male Wistar rats,
the animals were randomly allocated to negative control (no treatment), first vehicle control
(treatment with Eucerin), second vehicle control (treatment with skim milk) and
experimental (treatment with bacterial ointment) groups. Wound healing rate (percent) and
histopathological parameters of wound samples were evaluated on post-burn days 1, 3, 7 and
14.
Results: On days 3 and 7, macroscopic results showed that the healing rate was
significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control groups.
Histopathological analysis of wound samples showed increased fibroblastic migration,
collagen formation and re-epithelialization in the wounds treated with probiotic bacteria
compared with the wounds of control groups.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that the topical use of spray-dried S.
thermophilus could be useful for the treatment of burn wounds.
Keywords: Streptococcus thermophilus; Probiotics; Burns; Wound Healing; Rats.