I want to evaluate wound healing of a drug-delivery system in rats. According to the ethical standards for the use of animals in research, it is recommended to use a minimum number of animals to obtain scientifically valid results. This causes some researchers to make more wounds on an animal, and I did not find any study on its standards. For example, many studies use 8-millimeter round surgical wounds and some researchers made 12 wounds in each rat while some others made fewer ones, this raises questions:
1- What is the maximum number of wounds created in each animal (for example for 8 mm surgical wound model)?
2- What is the minimum distance between wounds so that the local effects of the two used drugs have the least effect on each other?
3- Is there any evidence comparing the effect of used drugs with systemic and non-systemic absorption in the distance between surgical wounds?
Best regards,
Dear Vahid Reisi-Vanani
1- What is the maximum number of wounds created in each animal (for example for 8 mm surgical wound model)?
There is no precise regulation or protocol indicating the wound size or the number of wounds taken on the model animal. We largely depend on the size of the model animal itself. In my research, the full thickness of the skin 1.5 cm below the midpoint of the splenic bones of both shoulders on both sides and 2.5 cm above the back was removed from the db/db and C57BL/6 mice with a 0.6 cm skin biopsy punch to create three wounds on each mouse.
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)2- What is the minimum distance between wounds so that the local effects of the two used drugs have the least effect on each other?
After determining the number and size of wounds, we usually distribute the wounds equally. However, in your question, the two drugs are not recommended to act on the same model animal. After all, this may affect the independent recovery mechanism of the wound, and doubts may be raised when your experiment is reviewed.
3- Is there any evidence comparing the effect of used drugs with systemic and non-systemic absorption in the distance between surgical wounds?
In response to your question, I found the following article.
Łozowicka, B., Kaczyński, P., Mojsak, P., Rusiłowska, J., Beknazarova, Z., Ilyasova, G., & Absatarova, D. (2020). Systemic and non-systemic pesticides in apples from Kazakhstan and their impact on human health. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 90, 103494.
I hope this information can help your research.
Article Research Techniques Made Simple: Animal Models of Wound Healing
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