Análise de correlação entre a expressão de TNFα e seu receptor e a taxa de contração de queimaduras de segundo grau tratadas com membrana de borracha natural-copaíba

Abstract

Skin burns are an important public health problem due to their high number of occurrences, reaching one million per year in Brazil. Furthermore, its treatment has presented difficulties, since there is no bandage on the market characterized as ideal by scientific literature. Currently, our group is working on the development of bandages that can control inflammatory activity and ensure optimal healing. It is known that TNFα is one of the main cytokines present after burns and its concentration in the injury can influence healing, interfering mainly with the rate of contraction of the injury. That said, this work aimed to evaluate whether there is any correlation between the expression of TNFα and the rate of injury contraction in second-degree burns treated with the bandage under development, natural rubber-copaíba. Twenty-two male Wistar rats were used, divided into four groups: positive control (no treatment), negative control (no burn), treated with silver sulfadiazine (SSD) (conventional treatment) and treated with natural rubber-copaiba membrane (BNC). Treatments began immediately and lasted for 10 days. After the treatment period, the wounds were evaluated for contraction rate (C%), TNFR1 expression, and TNFα concentration. After treatment with BNC, there was a significant reduction in the expression and concentration of TNF-R1 and TNFα, when compared to the positive control and conventional treatment groups (p<0.05). Additionally, the group treated with the BNC membrane showed a higher rate of wound contraction compared to the other burn groups (p<0.05). In a correlation test, we noted that the presence of TNFα and its receptor is not directly linked to the rate of contraction, during this phase of the injury, based on the data obtained, it can be said that the membrane actively helped to reduce the concentration of TNFα , while the contraction rate increased. However, these data do not correlate, indicating that although the treatment is positive in reducing part of the inflammatory response mediated by TNFα, it is not directly responsible for the increase in the rate of contraction.