EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY OF AYURVEDIC ANTIMICROBIAL FORMULATIONS USING IN VIVO ANIMAL EXCISION AND INCISION METHODS

Abstract

Wound healing comprises of four phases, namely inflammation, proliferation, re-epithelialization and remodelling which re-establish integrity of damaged tissue. This experimental study evaluates wound healing action of two Ayurvedic stem bark formulations, RFNA (containing Neem & Ashoka) and RFUL (containing Udumber & Lodhra) using 5% & 10% aqueous extract concentrations for preparation of ointment for external wound application using excision and incision methods. Phytochemical screening of extracts indicated presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and carbohydrates while total flavonoid content was 54.76 and 59.14 µg QE/mg and total phenol content was 205.00 and 225.67 µg GAE/mg for RFNA and RFUL. This 14- day study used Swiss albino rats divided into six groups, each group having six animals. While Group A was control group, Group B used Framycetin Sulphate IP as standard drug. Groups C, D, E and F were administered ointment containing 5% and 10% RFNA and RFUL respectively. While excision wound model study evaluated the percentage of wound contraction and amount of pus formation, the incision wound model assessed reduction in wound length and histopathological microscopic examination of wound skin, on the 4^th, 7^th and 14^th day. During this study, 10% RFNA and RFUL exhibited similar therapeutic efficacy as standard drug while 5% concentrations showed a little lower but highly significant properties, possibly due to high concentration of phenolic and flavonoidic compounds. The results showed that highest therapeutic efficacy was shown by 10% RFNA followed by 10% RFUL, 5% RFNA and 5% RFUL groups respectively in both excision and incision models.