Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the wound healing potentiality of a herbal ointment containing the ethanol leaves extract of Memecylon lushingtonii Gamble and Memecylon malabaricum Cogn. Single extracts and combined extracts were formulated into an ointment by using paraffin wax, lanolin, and petroleum jelly. A simple ointment base was used as control and overall compared with the marketed herbal ointment. Initially, dermal index and dermal irritation tests were performed for the extracts separately in rabbits. Then, all the formulations were applied once daily on the Wistar albino rats by excision wound creation. On the 20th day, ointment containing combined extracts showed satisfactory increases in wound contraction (3.14 ± 9.34*** mm2, p < 0.001) when compared with the marketed sample (standard, 6.39 ± 3.18*** mm2, p < 0.001) and control sample (97.72 ± 8.51*** mm2). Thereafter, percent wound closure also revealed a similar trend to the earlier result, where the control sample resulted in 33%, and the combined extract formulation showed 98% as compared to the standard (99%). Thereafter, a significant reduction in epithelialization period resulted from extracts in combination (13.28 ± 0.23**; significant: p < 0.01) than control (21.35 ± 0.14), but the value was a little less than that of standard (15.12 ± 0.20**; significant: p < 0.01 when compared with the control). Overall, the result concluded that the ointment of combined extracts showed satisfactory wound healing due to the presence of many bioactive compounds in the plant extracts especially polyphenolic compounds.

Key words: Dermal index, epithelialization, histopathology, ointment, plant extract, wound