Objective: In burn injury, the zone of stasis determines the width and depth of the necrosis. Our aim is to show the effectiveness of quercetin on the viability within the zone of stasis in burns of rats.
Materials and Methods: Forty-eight rats were divided into three groups. The rats in Group 1 (control group) were only applied the comb burn model; the rats in Group 2 (post-burn group) were administered 50 mg/kg of quercetin intraperitoneally, every day after the burn procedure until euthanasia; and the rats in Group 3 (pre-burn group) were administered 50 mg/kg of quercetin intraperitoneally, every day for 7 days before and after the burn procedure until euthanasia.
Results: The living tissue calculated was 85.41% (±14.06) in Group 3, 40.37% (±9.75) in Group 2, and 16.81% (±9.4) in Group 1. The level of apoptosis was 30.0 (±10.8) in Group 3, 33.8 (±08.7) in Group 2, and 37.4 (±11.5) in Group 1. The level of autophagy was 49.50 (±8.58) in Group 3, 27.17 (±5.53) in Group 2, and 21.00 (±5.66) in Group 1. All the differences between the groups were statistically significant (p<0.01).
Conclusion: Quercetin reduces apoptosis and increases autophagy, thereby increasing tissue viability in the zone of stasis of burn injury.