Enhanced wound healing effects of herbal gel formulations in a rabbit model: a comparative study

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of herbal 2% topical gel formulations of either of Allium sativum, Calotropis procera and Prosopis juliflora or their combination compared to an antibiotic cream (Betaderm-N) on healing of fullthickness skin wounds in rabbit. The wound healing (contraction) rate of treated groups was found to be significantly (p<0.05) higher than the positive and negative control groups. The wound treated with A. sativum were healed on 12th day while those treated with P. juliflora or Betaderm-N cream healed on 15th day. The wounds treated with combination gel showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher healing rate and completely healed the wound by 9th day of the experiment and in the histo-pathological examination, there observed an increased number of collagen fibers in dermis of the skin compared to positive and negative controls. Catalase test was used to differentiate S. aureus from other staphylococcal species. S. aureus has golden or creamy colour colonies raised on mannitol salt agar with coagulase positive activity. While the pink colonies raised at Meckonky agar with Indol positive test were of E. coli. By disc diffusion method, the combination of three herbal extracts showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli than other groups and showed a significant increased level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GPx) at 7th (p<0.05), 14th (p<0.05) and 21st (p<0.01) days of treatments. It was thus concluded that the combined effects of three herbal extracts accelerated the healing process of surgical wound in rabbits due to presence of active metabolites.