Abstract

EVALUATION OF PERSEA AMERICANA L. LEAF EXTRACT FOR WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY- A PRECLINICAL STUDY IN RATS

*B. Shivananda Nayak¹, Ria Ramadeen¹, S. Sivachandra Raju²

Abstract

We evaluated the wound healing activity of leaf extract of P. americana in rats. The wound healing activity of the extract of P. americana extract was determined in rats (topical application of 100 mg/kg/day) using excision wounds models. The animals were divided into three groups of 6 each. The experimental group animals were treated with the ethanolic extract of P. americana, standard group animals were treated with mupirocin ointment (10%), and the control group animals were applied with petroleum jelly. Healing was assessed by the rate of wound contraction, period of epithelialization and hydoxyproline content. On day 13 the tissue was excised from the healed area for histological and hydroxyproline determination. The extract-treated animals exhibited 86% reduction in the wound area when compared to controls (67%) standard (81%). The extract treated wounds were found to epithelize faster than controls (P< 0.001). The hydroxyproline content of the tissue obtained from experimental animals was significantly higher. The histological examination of tissue from experimental group animals showed abundant well organized collagen. Wound contraction together with the hydroxyproline content and histological findings support the use of P. americana leaf in the management of cut wounds.

Keywords: Persea americana, Excision wound, Hydroxyproline, Collagen.