FENNEY. K, MAHANI.

M FACULTY OF HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES, MSU

A burn is usually referred as damage to the skins tissues, which caused by several factors such as heat or thermal, chemicals, electricity, or radiation. But among all these, heat or thermal is the most obvious cause of burn injuries. The severity of thermal burn injuries depends on how deeply it has affected the tissue. There are three categories of thermal burn injuries which referred to as first, second and third-degree burns. (Jeffrey W, et al, 2002) First -degree burn is a superficial burn that is limited to the epidermis layer. Second - degree burn is sometimes referred to as partial thickness burns which penetrate deeper than a firstdegree burn and destroy the epidermal layers thus extending into the dermis layer, and lastly third- degree burn destroys all the epidermal and dermal skin layers. (American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 2010) Thermal burn wound usually can be treated either by using clinical treatment or alternative treatment. Alternative treatment that usually used for burn wound includes tropical application of various types of herbs or natural products. Honey is defined as a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honeybees and other insects from the nectar of flowers. It is a mixture of sugars; 70% to 80% of honey is largely fructose and sucrose, with some maltose, melezitose and sucrose. The rest is water, minerals and traces of protein, acids, and other substances. (Office of Complementary Medicines, 1998) Honeys have been discovered to having three important keys that can contribute to its therapeutic utility. These important keys include antibacterial, antioxidant, and hygroscopic in nature. (Office of Complementary Medicines, 1998) In Malaysia, there are many types of honey product/ brands that have been commercialized in the market. These include Tualang Honey, Polleney Pure Honey and Rose Bee Fraser Hill Pure Honey. In the present study, application of these three different Malaysian honeys were tested against the effectiveness in wound healing of thermal burn injuries.

GENERAL OBJJECTIVE: To identified the effectiveness of honey on the healing progression of thermal burn injuries SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE: To identified the effectiveness of different local brands of honey in Malaysia (Tualang Honey, Polleney Pure Honey, Rose Bee Fraser Hill Pure Honey ) on the healing progression of primary (first-degree) thermal burns injuries.

Research design was conducted as illustrated in the following flow chart: A total number of 20 mices will be induced with primary burn wound on the body surface area.

The 20 mices then are divided into 4 groups; 5 mice per each groups and will be treated as follow:

Group 1: Burn wound treated with Tualang honey Group 2: Burn wound treated with Polleney Pure honey Group 3: Burn wound treated with Rose Bee Fraser Hill Pure honey Group 4: As control group (Positive; treated with normal saline)

The size of burn wound will be measured after and before the healing process

All the data will be analyzed by using SPSS (ANOVA test ) for the statistical value and compile using the Microsoft Excel 2007.

NULL HYPOTHESIS (H0): The tropical application of honey has no significant effect and not effective against wound healing of thermal burn injuries

Jeffrey W.M, Marianne N, Ruth.T.J. 2002. Principles of Pathophysiology and Emergency Medical Care. Canada: Delmar, Thomson Learning Inc, 2002. Page 335 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 2010. First Aid, CPR, and AED Standard. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. Page 61 Office of Complementary Medicines. 1999. Honey, Scientific Report. Page 2-19

ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1): The tropical application of honey has significant effect and effective against wound healing of thermal burn injuries.