Effect of Sulfanilamide on Wound Healing. ∗

Bricker and Graham 1 reported that sulfanilamide had an inhibitory effect upon the healing of stomach wounds in dogs. Their determinations were made on the 3rd, 5th and 7th postoperative days. In view of the widespread and growing use of sulfanilamide and its related compounds, it seemed important to repeat these studies and to carry the determinations through all the normal phases of healing.

The experiments were performed on adult white rats weighing about 250 g. The tensile strength of the wound was used as an index of healing. In addition comparative histological studies were made of the wounds.

I. Control Group—51 animals. This group was maintained throughout the duration of the experiment on a diet of Purina dog chow. On the 3rd day of the diet a longitudinal wound measuring about one cm in length was made under ether anesthesia through the anterior wall of the stomach at its cardiac end. The wound edges were immediately re-approximated in one layer with a running continuous Connell suture of No. 000 plain catgut which, as has been previously shown, loses its tensile strength well within the 4th day. The abdominal wall was closed with 2 layers of fine No. A silk. On each of the 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th postoperative days 5 to 8 animals were sacrificed, and the strength of the wounds immediately determined by distending the stomach with air and noting its bursting point. The details of this method were described by Harvey and Howes. 2 Inasmuch as it has been shown that for approximately 4 days after the injury the wound has only the strength contributed by the holding power of the sutures, no studies were made during this first phase of healing.