Abstract

Since Cucurbita pepo L. seeds have been reported to have beneficial effects in folk medicine for many years, in this study, in vivo wound healing activities of diethyl ether, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts prepared from C. pepo seeds were evaluated by linear incision wound model, and hydroxyproline content. Furthermore, the extracts were screened for anti-inflammatory activity based on the inhibition of acetic acid-induced capillary permeability. The ethyl acetate extract had the highest inhibitory effect on acetic acid-induced capillary permeability, but the rest of the extracts didn’t display significant anti-inflammatory activity. On the other hand, according to the activity using linear incision wound model as well as hydroxyproline content of the treated tissue, all three extracts did not indicate wound healing activity.

Key words: Cucurbita pepo L, anti-inflammatory activity, wound healing activity