Effects of topical applications of epidermal growth factor on wound healing. Experimental study on rabbit ears.

In wounds in rabbit ears, the application every 12 hours of an ointment containing epidermal growth factor appears to produce faster and better healing. The resulting epithelium is thicker and more cellular than in the untreated ear wounds, and more fibroblasts appeared sooner during the healing process. Less wound contracture occurred in the EFG-treated wounds, and wound maturation occurred earlier. The healed wounds that had been treated with EGF more closely resembled the surrounding normal tissue, producing less local deformity than in the controls. It is too early to know whether this will have clinical application, but other experiments are under way to further investigate the effects of EGF on wound healing.