Efficacy and toxicity of anise oil as a potential topical wound healer: a cell culture study.

OBJECTIVE: We studied the cytotoxic effects of topical anise oil on NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells using a cell culture assay. MATERIALS AND METHODS: NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells were grown in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) supplemented with fetal bovine serum (10%) and penicillin/streptomycin under standard cell culture conditions in a humidified incubator containing 5% carbon dioxide. For the MTT cytotoxicity experiment, NIH/3T3 cells were plated in triplicate at a concentration of 3x103 per well in 96-well plates and incubated for 24 hours. The cells were treated with anise oil concentrations ranging from 3.13 to 100 µM, and the plates were cultured for 24, 48, and 72 hours under standard cell culture conditions. For assessment by confocal microscopy, NIH/3T3 cells were seeded on sterilized coverslips in 6-well plates at a concentration of 105 cells per well in triplicate. For 24 hours, cells were treated with 100 µM of anise oil. Three wells that were not treated with anise oil served as the control group. RESULTS: The MTT findings demonstrated that anise oil is not cytotoxic to NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells. Anise oil stimulated cell growth and triggered cell division at all three incubation intervals of 24, 48, and 72 hours. The maximum growth was obtained in the applied highest concentration of 100 µM anise oil. At doses of 25, 50, and 100 µM, there was also a statistically significant improvement in cell viability. At 72 hours of incubation, dosages of 6.25 and 12.5 micro of anise oil were shown to be viability-inducing for NIH/3T3 cells. In the confocal microscopy pictures, it was found that anise oil was not cytotoxic on NIH/3T3 cells at the applied maximal dose. The experimental group of NIH/3T3 cells exhibited the same cell morphology as the untreated control group. In both sets of NIH/3T3 cells, the nucleus was round and undamaged, and the cytoskeleton was determined to be compact. CONCLUSIONS: Anise oil is not cytotoxic on NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells and initiates cell growth. Anise oil could be used topically to enhance wound healing after surgical procedures if clinical trials will confirm experimental data.

Symptomatic giant cavernous haemangioma of the liver: is enucleation a safe method? A single institution report.

Twenty-three patients with symptomatic giant hemangioma of the liver were treated by surgery between 1979 and 1996 at the department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cukurova. Twenty-three enucleations were performed in 21 patients, left lateral segmentectomy in one patient and enucleation plus left lobectomy in one patient. The tumors were enucleated along the interface between the hemangioma and normal liver tissue. The diameters of the tumors ranged from 5 x 5 to 25 x 15 cm. The mean blood loss for enucleations was 525 ml (range 500-1000 ml). There was no mortality and no postoperative bleeding. Three patients had postoperative complications. Enucleation is the best surgical technique for symptomatic giant hemangioma of the liver. It may be performed with no mortality, low morbidity and the preservation of all normal liver parenchyma.

Risk of tuberculosis infection in Edirne primary schools and a review of its epidemiological indices.

The study population was defined as all first and fifth grade pupils from 17 primary schools located within Edirne Municipality. Of these 3188 pupils, aged 6-14 years, 569 had not received the BCG vaccine, and were tested for Tb with strengths of 1.3 or 5 TU PPD, and the reactions were evaluated. The annual risk of infection (AIR), a relatively new indice in Tb epidemiology, was determined in the different subgroups in which age, school grade and sex were taken into consideration. The results of each subgroup were compared with each other and with those reported in foreign countries. Global AIR was found to be 1.54 percent, a relatively very high value when compared with those reported in Syria and Egypt. The relative risk ratio was recorded as 22.4 percent in the Netherlands. Another rate parameter which is almost as important as AIR is the annual variation in AIR. In Turkey this rate has been varying annually by an average of 5% for over the past 21 years. These figures may be the result only of normal socioeconomic development rather than the effect of campaigns waged in the fight against Tb. We are convinced that under the conditions prevailing in Turkey, widespread, early vaccination with BCG is the best way to control Tb.