BACKGROUND: We evaluated the influence of captopril on the skin wound healing process of hypertensive rats. METHODS: 111 rats were placed in 4 groups: normotensive control (N=30); hypertensive control (N=30), which received an oral daily dose of saline solution 0,9%; group experiment (N=31) was treated with 7.5mg/kg/day of captopril; and an aferition group (N=20) with 10 hypertensive and 10 normotensive animals in which arterial blood pressure was mesured in the aorta in the last day of the experiment. After 15 days of treatment, an skin incision of 4 cm was made in the animals. Samples of the dorsal wall scar were taken 4, 7 and 14 days after the last procedure. The wounds were excised and divided in 2 pieces. They were sent to tensiontrial and histological analysis. RESULTS: The aferition group showed mean arterial blood pressure of 82.5±7.55 mmHg in the normotensive animals and 150.5± 10.66 mmHg in the hypertensive ones. The resistance analysis showed that the scars of treated and untreated hypertensives were less resistant than those of normotensives rats in the initial days (p<0.05) and that on the 14th day the resistances became similar. There were no diferences among treated and untreated groups. Total collagen had higher density in normotensives rats throughout the study (p<0.05) and there were no diferences among treated and untreated hypertensive rats. Epitelization, inflammatory response and granulation tissue formation were similar in all groups. CONCLUSION: Captopril, doesn't modify the wound healing process in rats, being the differences due to hypertension.
Wound healing; Skin; Hypertension; Captopril; Collagen
