Effects of Hypertension on Abdominal Wall Healing: Experimental Study in Rats

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of untreated and treated hypertension on abdominal wall healing. Methods Thirty-two spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were randomly allocated into two groups: H (n = 16), untreated and E (n = 16), treated with enalapril (40 mg/kg per day). Group C (n = 16) was a nonhypertensive control group. The animals of each group were submitted to a midline laparotomy and randomly divided, according to the day on which they were killed (7th or 14th postoperative day), into subgroups of 8 animals, as follows: H-7, H-14, E-7, E-14, C-7 and C-14. On the day of their deaths, two strips of the anterior abdominal wall were collected. One strip was submitted to breaking strength measurement and the other to hydroxyproline determination. Results No mortalities or complications were observed in the six subgroups. The breaking strength in E-7 subgroup was significantly lower than in C-7 (P < 0.05). The tissue hydroxyproline levels were similar in all six subgroups (P > 0.05). Conclusions Untreated hypertension had no effect on the abdominal wall healing of rats. Hypertensive animals treated with enalapril showed a significant decrease in abdominal wound-breaking strength on the 7th postoperative day.