Investigation of the Effects of Micromeria congesta Essential Oil Extract on Wound Healing in Rabbits and Molecular Genetics Applications

Background: The chemical composition and antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Micromeria congesta (M. congesta) have been previously revealed, but their effect on wound healing has not been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the effects of M. congesta extract in rabbits where full-thickness skin wounds were used. Methods: Twentyone New Zealand rabbits that were used in the study were divided into 3 groups as Group I (M. congesta’s essential oil extract), Group II (Centella asiatica (C. asiatica) extract in pomade form) and Group III (control). Two wounds of 2.8 cm in size were created at the caudal border of the scapula. While the unhealed wound areas were measured on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days. Result: It was observed histopathologically and immunohistochemically that the healing was more noticeable in Group II in comparison to the others and the wound healing in Group I was more limited. In the genetic analysis, the expression levels of all the target genes in Group I and Group II were significantly higher than those in the control group on the 7th day (p less than 0.05). The results demonstrate that topical application of the oily form of M. congesta results in significant improvements on wound healing in rabbits.