Preclinical study of the efficacy and safety of wound healing gel containing chitosan, taurine and allantoin

Abstract

Introduction: The paper deals with the problem of wound healing, which is considered to remain one of the most pressing challenges of the modern medicine, despite a large variety of wound healing preparations. This results from a high level of domestic and military traumatism of the population, and the fact that many registered medications do not meet the requirements for modern wound healing preparations.

Objectives: To develop gel containing chitosan, taurine, allantoin, and to experimentally investigate its wound healing properties in pre-clinical studies on laboratory animals.

Methods: The methodological approach was based on a range of theoretical, pharmacological, toxicological, histological, statistical, physico-chemical, biopharmaceutical, rheological methods, which ensured the development of an optimal, safe and effective wound healing preparation in the gel dosage form.

Results: The developed chitosan gel containing taurine and allantoin meets the major modern requirements for wound and burn care. Physico-chemical compatibility of the chitosan gel components with taurine and allantoin were proved in the experimental studies. When applied either singly or repeatedly on the skin, the developed gel is reported to be of low toxicity; in case of linear wounds, it demonstrates wound-healing properties, ensuring the increase of wound-disruption strength 1.5 times more in comparison with the control; in case of planar full-thickness skin wounds, it provides earlier complete healing (4 days earlier than in the control) and full epithelium recovery in the area of a wound defect. The given gel possesses burn-treating properties exceeding the efficiency of the "Solcoseryl" gel and reducing the half-healing period by 28%. When applied topically, the chitosan gel containing taurine and allantoin reveals anti-inflammatory and capillary-protective properties of moderate degree.

Conclusion: It is possible to use 1.0% chitosan gel with 4.0% taurine and 0.5% allantoin to accelerate healing and provide epithelization without cosmetic defects of conditionally aseptic wounds and thermal skin burns up to IIIa degree to 1% of the body surface area; the gel should be applied 1-3 times a day locally, 0.5 g directly to the wound surface.