A wound healing study of chlorhexidine digluconate in guinea pigs.

Formulations with and without chlorhexidine digluconate, a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, were tested for their effects on the healing of incisions and abrasions surgically induced in male guinea pigs. Formulations containing chlorhexidine were a skin cleanser formulation (4% w/v), a tinted tincture (0.5% w/v), and both 0.5 and 4% w/v aqueous solutions. Control materials were saline, and both the skin cleanser and the tincture formulations without chlorhexidine. Presurgical preparation was limited to closely clipping the hair and wiping each wound area with saline to remove loose hair, dander, and dirt. Each incision and abrasion was irrigated with its assigned material at surgery and daily thereafter until necropsy. Guinea pigs were killed on Days 3, 6, 9, 14, and 21, and wound sites were removed and fixed for histologic evaluation of healing. Daily progress of the wound healing appeared comparable for all treatment groups and there was no gross evidence of treatment effects at necropsy. For the animals with incisions, there were no remarkable histological differences among the treatment groups at Day 3. At Days 6 and 9, the two formulations containing 4% chlorhexidine produced a slight delay in healing when compared with the other treatment groups. These differences decreased with time, and by Day 21, there were no remarkable histological differences among animals of the various treatment groups. For the animals with abrasions, all treatment groups with and without chlorhexidine had slightly delayed healing compared to the saline control animals on Day 3 and 6.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)