Post-operative Wound Healing Efficacy of Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Phenolic-rich Extracts Incorporated Hydrogel With Enhanced Antioxidant, Antibacterial, and Anti-inflammatory Activities

Abstract

Post-operative wound healing can be complicated due to various factors, which may lead to delay in healing and causes further infections with wound dehiscence. The bioactive compounds are considered as safe alternative for synthetic drugs in minimizing wound complications. Thus, Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves were extracted using a hydroalcoholic solvent to obtain hydrophobic/hydrophilic fractions and tested for biomimetic attributes. Further, the extract was incorporated within Carbopol-based hydrogel to study the incision wound healing efficacy. The hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions showed bacteriostatic properties against Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus epidermidis with the MIC values of 78 µg/mL, 625 µg/mL, and 312 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, lipopolysaccharides-stimulated macrophage cells pretreated with hydrophobic/hydrophilic fraction indicated a concentration-dependent reduction in nitric oxide secretion with CC₅₀ of 8.72 µg/mL and 123.92 µg/mL, respectively. The Carbopol gel incorporated hydrophobic/hydrophilic fraction demonstrated insignificant changes in the physical properties of test gel, compared to Carbopol gel-base. Furthermore, the H&E-stained macroscopic image of animal skin treated with hydrophilic fraction fortified gel presented improved re-epithelization, neovascularization, infiltration of inflammatory cells, and connective tissue followed by development of scab, compared to hydrophobic fraction and control gel-base. The results suggested that both fractions of E. camaldulensis exhibit varied levels of potential therapeutic attributes, making it suitable as a wound healing agent.