Honey based treatment strategies for infected wounds and burns: A systematic review of recent pre-clinical research

Abstract

The clinical use of honey has gained significant importance in regenerative medicine owing to its constructive properties that abets the rapid healing of broad-spectrum of injuries. The salient characteristics of honey are attributable to its active ingredients which include sugars, enzymes and vitamins. Moreover, the evidence based results exert that honey acts in synergy with its immunologic modulators and physiologic mediators in multitude of signalling pathways and molecular targets offering beneficial vigor effects in wound healing. The aim of this present study is to systematically review the literature in PubMed database in order to identify the available pre-clinical results in support to rational use of honey in wound management. The results revealed that the active biomolecules of honey assisted in improved autolytic debridement and tissue granulation. This review highlights the physiological basis for the use of honey in wound healing, its current pre-clinical uses and its future recommendations.