The mechanism of activity of ankaferd blood stopper in the control of arterial bleeding and in the process of wound healing

Objectives: Ankaferd Blood Stopper (ABS) carries a historical role in the Traditional Turkish Medicine as a topical haemostatic agent. We aimed to study the effect of the ABS on the control of arterial bleeding in addition to investigate its impact on cytokine and platelet levels and vascular histopathology Methods: Blood samples were collected from all the rats (21 rats) before and after the study for platelet, interleukin-1, and tumor necrosis factor-alfa measurements. Following the anterior incision of the femoral artery, the rats were divided into 3 groups, the first to be a sterile tomponade applied on the incised artery, the second ABS spray and the third ABS embedded sponge and bleeding time was recorded. After seven days the animals were sacrificed and the previously incised femoral arteries were excised for histopathological evaluations. Results: The bleeding time of the control group was longer (209.28 seconds) than the ABS spray group (53.57 seconds) and ABS sponge group (56.42 seconds). There was no statistical significant difference regarding PLT (platelet) levels. Additionally the analysis of tumor necrosis factor-alfa and interleukin-1, reveald no significant difference both within (p=0.218, p=0,759 respectively) and among the groups day0 and day7 (p=O.441, p=0.846 respectively). Conclusion: The present study suggests that the ABS can be easily used and efficiently control the bleeding. However, the results of the present study showed no major effect of the ABS on PLT values, and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Further studies remain to be done for illuminating the efficient mechanisms that ABS uses for stopping bleeding.