Fig. 8.

Haematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of cutaneous wounds on day 16 post-wounding. a Control wound from a diabetic rat treated with saline showing the presence of presence of scab tissue (arrows) and surgical threads (dagger). b Control wound from a diabetic rat showing localised tissue destruction, oedema and exudation (arrows). c, d Treated wounds in the DB-H group, showing irregular epidermis morphology (triple arrows) and the presence of hair follicles of different diameters in the dermis. The presence of hair follicles indicates that the tissue is healthy and growing normally. e–g Treated wound in the DB-NP group. e Regular epidermal morphology evident (double arrow) and increased angiogenesis in the dermis (single arrows) and formation of granulation tissue (arrow). f Localised increase in collagen fibres (arrows). g Intact epidermal layer with the arrows marking the lower and upper edges. Magnification bars = 100 μm (b–f), 50 μm (a) and 10 μm (g)