The healing property of a bioactive wound dressing prepared by the combination of bacterial cellulose (BC) and Zingiber officinale root aqueous extract in rats.

Gluconacetobacter xylinus was used for production of bacterial cellulose (BC). The obtained BC was washed and floated in the nontoxic dose of the herb aqueous extract that was obtained from the methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay. Twenty-four Wistar rats were divided into four separated groups and after inducing the wounds (15 mm in diameter), each group was treated with honey, BC, herb aqueous extract, and the combination of BC-herb aqueous extract. Each day the contraction percentages of the wound sites were measured. On days 3, 7, and 14, two rats from each group were euthanized, the skin samples from the wound regions were achieved and their paraffin blocks were prepared. Finally after trichrome staining, the microscopic examinations were done. MTT assay results indicated that the herb aqueous extract had dose-dependent toxic effects and the nontoxic dose of the extract was prepared and utilized for in vivo assay. Although the macroscopic analysis revealed that the BC and the herb aqueous extract had better activity in the wound contraction percentages than their combination, microscopic analysis indicated that the combination of BC-herb aqueous extract revealed all the characteristics that each material induced in the wound site alone. In conclusion, the speed of the wound healing should not be solely considered and its quality should be considered as well.