Akbulut, S.Dogan, Z.Baskiran, A.Elbe, H.Turkoz, Y.2024-08-042024-08-0420191052-02951473-7760https://doi.org/10.1080/10520295.2019.1601257https://hdl.handle.net/11616/98765We compared the effect of honey and a mixture of arginine-glutamine-hydroxymethylbutyrate (AGHMB) on healing of a descending colon anastomosis in rats that were immunosuppressed with tacrolimus (Tac). Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: untreated control, Tac, Tac + honey and Tac + AGHMB. Colon resection and anastomosis were performed on day 14 and re-laparotomy was performed on the day 21 of the study. Anastomotic bursting pressure, macroscopic adhesion score, weekly body weight changes, histopathological features and immunohistochemical staining of TGF-beta 1 were determined for all groups. We found no significant difference in anastomotic bursting pressure among the experimental groups. We found significant weekly increases in body weight for the Tac + honey group. We found no significant difference in the weekly body weight measurements for the Tac + AGHMB group. We found significant increases in TGF-beta 1 expression in the Tac + honey group compared to the control and Tac groups. No significant differences in inflammatory cell infiltration, fibroblast proliferation or collagen deposition were found between the Tac + honey and Tac + AGHMB groups; however, a significant difference in neovascularization between these groups was found. Neovascularization in the Tac + honey group was significantly greater than for the Tac + AGHMB group. We found that both honey and the AGHMB mixture were beneficial for anastomotic wound healing in rats that were immunosuppressed using Tac.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessAnastomosisargininebursting pressurecolonglutaminehoneyhydroxymethylbutyratetacrolimusArticle9475145213098341110.1080/10520295.2019.16012572-s2.0-85064511913Q2WOS:000466687000001Q4