MATERIALS AND METHODS:  Dental pulp perforation was made on 27 male Wistar rats on the upper first molar and then pulp capped with calcium hydroxide and ellagic acid. The pulp of the control positive group was capped with calcium hydroxide, and the control group was not capped. The teeth were then extracted after 1, 3, and 7 days posttreatment. The differences in the number of neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, and TNF-α expression were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effect of a zinc oxide and ellagic acid wound dressing on fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression during early excisional wound healing.

METHODOLOGY: Standardized 10×10 mm dorsal excision wounds were created in 20 male Wistar rats. Control wounds received a zinc oxide dressing, whereas treatment wounds received zinc oxide combined with ellagic acid and coconut fatty acids. Tissue samples were collected on days 3 and 7. FGF-2 and VEGF expression were evaluated using immunohistochemistry and quantified as the mean number of positively stained cells in ten microscopic fields. Data were assessed for normality and homogeneity of variance and analyzed using two-way ANOVA to evaluate the effects of dressing type, observation time, and their interaction, followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

RESULTS: FGF-2 and VEGF expression were higher in the zinc oxide and ellagic acid groups than in the corresponding control groups on both days 3 and 7, with the highest expression observed in the treatment group on day 7. Two-way ANOVA showed significant effects of dressing type and observation time, as well as significant dressing × time interactions for both FGF-2 and VEGF.