Wound healing of experimental cutaneous wounds in horses: comparison between a topical formulation containing powdered coconut water and an antimicrobial ointment.

CONTEXT: Skin wounds in horses often present prolonged healing, stimulating the search for alternative topical therapies. To date, there are no experimental studies in horses evaluating topical formulations containing powdered coconut water.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the early macroscopic and morphometric wound-healing outcomes and the histopathological findings at day 14 in experimental cutaneous wounds in horses treated with a topical formulation containing powdered coconut water versus a reference antimicrobial ointment.

METHODS: Eight clinically healthy horses received two standardized circular skin wounds in the lumbar region, in an intra-animal paired design. The cranial lesion received the reference antimicrobial ointment and the caudal lesion received the experimental formulation, once a day for 14 days. Length, width, and area were measured by planimetry on days 0, 3, 7, 10, and 14. Edema, exudate, degree of repair, mean repair rate, and histopathological findings were evaluated.

RESULTS: There was a progressive reduction in wound area in both groups, with a significant time effect, but no overall treatment effect or treatment × time interaction. An exploratory between-treatment difference in the degree of repair was observed at D3 after Holm adjustment. Edema, exudate, mean repair rate, and histopathological scores on day 14 did not differ between the groups.

CONCLUSION: Under the evaluated conditions, no overall difference was detected between treatments in early wound-healing outcomes. The exploratory results do not demonstrate superiority, therapeutic equivalence, or an isolated effect of powdered coconut water, thereby justifying further investigation of the formulation in larger samples and more clinically challenging models.