Dermatological evaluation of counter irritant potential of Human urine in rabbits

Objective: To confirm the effect of human urine in the treatment of wounds, burns and irritation. Methods: The study was conducted at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, in November 2013 and comprised 15 rabbits of either gender. Irritation was induced by clockwise frictional movement of fine sandpaper to the ear of the rabbits. The counter-irritant activity was determined by calculating the mean decrease in redness and erythema. A group of 3 rabbits each was used while experimenting with the main assay every time the concentration of irritants was increased. The ear treated with distilled water was used as a control. Sodium lauryl sulfate irritation model was also applied and the counter-irritant activity was evaluated. One-way analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni test were used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean weight of the 15 rabbits was 1.5+/-SD kg. Urine (50 and 100μl) showed excellent counter-irritant activity when compared with control and standard dexamethasone. Both the doses showed counter- irritant activity, ranging between 76.84% and 95.68% in the sandpaper model, and 68.90% and 93.68% in the sodium lauryl sulfate model. Conclusion: Human urine countered the effect of irritation in experimental animals and can be an alternative way of countering irritation.