Purpose. Evaluated the effects of continuous electrical current (CEC) or zinc administrated by transdermal iontophoresis (Zn+TDI).\nMethods. 120 male Wistar rats were submitted to an incision surgery at the anterior region of abdomen and distributed into 6\nexperimental groups with 40 animals: 3 diabetic groups and 3 normal groups, untreated and treated with CEC alone or with Zn\n+ TDI. Each group was further divided into 4 subgroups with 10 rats each to be evaluated on the 4th, 7th, 14th, and 21st day after\nsurgery. In each period, clinical and laboratory parameters from the animals were analyzed. Results. The analysis by optical and\nscanning electron microscopy showed a delay in the phases of wound healing in diabetic rats without treatment in all periods of\nthe experiment; breaking strength (BS) was significantly reduced in skin scars of untreated diabetic rats when compared to other\ngroups. In contrast, BS in skin scars of nondiabetic groups and diabetic rats treated with Zn + TDI showed significant increase in\nthose, besides not presenting delayed healing. Conclusion. Electrical stimulation of surgical wounds used alone or in association\nwith zinc by TDI is able to consistently improve the morphological and ultrastructural changes observed in the healing of diabetic\nanimals.
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