Thermography for in-vivo wound healing models

The objective of this study was to create a wound healing model based on longitudinal thermal images of wounds to assess the pro-angiogenic properties of Eu(OH)3 nanorods using an in vivo animal model. Eu(OH)3 nanorods are bioactive nanoparticles and induce angiogenesis which results in relatively faster skin wound healing in diabetics. We tracked wound area of full thickness cutaneous wounds for 18 days using digital photographs and wound temperature using infrared imaging as a surrogate indictor for inflammation. Cutaneous wound area decreased faster for mice treated with Eu(OH)3 than those treated with control vehicle dressing [62% (Europium) Vs 43% (Control) wound area reduction at Day 18]. This study provides a novel methodology to assess wound healing for in-vivo models using thermography.