Histological evaluation of the healing properties of Dead Sea black mud on full-thickness excision cutaneous wounds in BALB/c mice.

Dead Sea (DS) mud and salts are known for their therapeutic and cosmetic properties. Previous studies confirmed their efficacy in treating the more frequent skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the wound healing potential of natural and compounded skin-care product (facial mask) of DS black mud in BALB/c mice. Two full-thickness excision round wounds were created on the dorsum region of mouse. Each wound of mice test group were treated topically with 50 microL of 0.1% natural or compounded DS black mud or 50 microL of 0.2% nitrofurazone once a day for 2 consecutive days and the mice control group were left untreated. Healing was assessed by measuring the granulation tissue weight and percentage of wound contraction at day 3, 7, 14 and 21 after wounding. In addition to period of epithelialization and histological evaluation of the regenerated wound area at day 7 and 14 after wounding. Results revealed that DS black mud accelerate wound healing process by enhancing granulation, wound contraction, epithelialization, angiogenesis and collagen deposition. This may be due to high content of minerals and trace elements that possibly act as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant with enhancement effect on cell proliferation, migration and fibroblast cellular activity. However, the healing property of DS black mud compounded in skin-care product was greater than that of natural black mud, when compared to reference drug, nitrofurazone.