Phototherapy promotes healing of cutaneous wounds in undernourished rats

Background: various studies have shown that phototherapy promotes the healing of cutaneous wounds.objective: to investigate the effect of phototherapy on healing of cutaneous wounds in nourished and undernourished rats.methods: forty rats,20 nourished plus 20 others rendered marasmus with undernourishment,were assigned to four equal groups: nourished sham,nourished light emitting diode treated,undernourished sham and undernourished light emitting diode treated. in the two treated groups,two 8-mm punch wounds made on the dorsum of each rat were irradiated three times per week with 3 j/cm2 sq cm of combined 660 and 890nm light; wounds in the other groups were not irradiated. wounds were evaluated with digital photography and image analysis,either on day 7 or day 14,with biopsies obtained on day 14 for histological studies.results: undernourishment retarded the mean healing rate of the undernourished sham wounds (p < 0.01),but not the undernourished light emission diode treated wounds,which healed significantly faster (p < 0.001) and as fast as the two nourished groups. histological analysis showed a smaller percentage of collagen in the undernourished sham group compared with the three other groups,thus confirming our photographic image analysis data.conclusion: phototherapy reverses the adverse healing effects of undernourishment. similar beneficial effects may be achieved in patients with poor nutritional status. © 2014 by anais brasileiros de dermatologia.