Wound healing activity of Methanolic extract of three Medicinal plants

Hamiltonia suaveolens, Sphaeranthus indicus and Ziziphus jujuba Mill are one of the most important traditional medicinal plants. The primary indigenous use of these plants appears to be of the leaves, flowers and root as a topical treatment for wound healing. The Methanol extract of leaves, flower and root of these plants were used to evaluate the wound-healing activity in rats, using excision and dead space wound models. Animals were randomly divided into six groups of six for each model. Test group animals in each model were treated with the Methanol extract of H. suaveolens, S. indicus and Z. jujuba topically in the form of ointment and the control group animals were maintained with no application. Healing was assessed by the rate of wound contraction, time until complete epithelialization, granulation tissue weight and hydroxyproline content. On day 16, the extract-treated animals exhibited 100% reduction in the wound area when compared with controls which exhibited 63%. The granulation tissue weight and hydroxyproline content in the dead space wounds were also increased significantly in Z. jujuba treated animals compared with controls (P<0.001). Enhanced wound contraction, decreased epithelialization time and increased hydroxyproline content suggest that S. indicus and Z. jujuba root extract may have therapeutic benefits in wound healing.