A Pre-clinical Study on Wound-healing Property of Calamus floribundus (Griff.) Leaves Using Mice Excision Model

Abstract

In the rural areas of Assam, the leaves of Calamus floribundus are in use among the traditional healers to treat different skin-related problems. Assessment of the plant’s in-vivo wound healing activity was undertaken to unearth the extent of its healing potential. Methanolic extracts of the leaves of C. floribundus was applied topically on the mice having excision wounds. Different parameters such as rate of wound contraction, epithelialization period, tensile strength, content of DNA, protein, hydroxyproline, expression level of the growth factor and pro-inflammatory cytokines, histopathological and ultrastructural evaluations were carried out for the wound healing potential assessment. The results indicated that the application of the extract lead to the significant increase in the rate of wound contraction, tensile strength, DNA, protein and hydroxyproline content. The expression of PDGF-AA was upregulated and the cytokines levels were downregulated in the extract-treated group. All the values were comparable to that of the reference drugtreated group. Morphometric, histological and ultrastructural observations further supported the results. The findings of our in-vivo study indicate that the methanolic crude extracts of the leaves of C. floribundus positively affect the healing of excision wounds in swiss albino mice.