A simple method to quantify maturation of wound collagen.

While investigating the effect of NSAIDs and Zn(II) (NSAIDs)2 complexes on healing of dead space wounds we found that both NSAIDs and Zn(II) (NSAIDs)2 reduced collagen content to a comparable extent yet only NSAIDs reduced breaking strength (BS) of wounds. Since collagen content and maturation are the two important determinants of BS it was obvious that only NSAIDs reduced maturation. A simple method to assess the extent of maturation in available collagen is being reported in the present study. While all NSAIDs significantly reduced the maturation of collagen, Zn(II) (NSAIDs)2 complexes per se did not affect the maturation of collagen of 10-day old. Though, chronologically, granulation tissues obtained from both the treated groups were 10-day old, maturation-wise the age of NSAIDs and Zn(II) (NSAIDs)2 treated granulation was 6 and 12 days respectively.