Wound Healing Properties of Selected Plants Used in Ethnoveterinary Medicine

Front Pharmacol. 2017 Sep 6;8:544. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00544. eCollection 2017. Marume A1,2, Matope G1, Katsande S1, Khoza S3, Mutingwende I2,4, Mduluza T5,6, Munodawafa-Taderera T4, Ndhlala AR7. Author information 1 Department of Paraclinical Veterinary Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of ZimbabweHarare, Zimbabwe. 2 Pharmacy Skills Training and Development Unit, EastEnd Medical Centre, Harare Institute of Public HealthHarare, Zimbabwe. 3 Department of Clinical Pharmacology, College of Health Sciences, University of ZimbabweHarare, Zimbabwe. 4 Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, University of ZimbabweHarare, Zimbabwe. 5 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of ZimbabweHarare, Zimbabwe. 6 Infection Prevention and Control, School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-NatalDurban, South Africa. 7 Vegetable and Ornamental Plants, Agricultural Research CouncilPretoria, South Africa. Abstract Plants have arrays of phytoconstituents that have wide ranging biological effects like antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties key in wound management. In vivo wound healing properties of ointments made of crude methanolic extracts (10% extract w/w in white soft paraffin) of three plant species, Cissus quadrangularis L. (whole aerial plant parts), Adenium multiflorum Klotzsch (whole aerial plant parts) and Erythrina abyssinica Lam. Ex DC. (leaves and bark) used in ethnoveterinary medicine were evaluated on BALB/c female mice based on wound area changes, regular observations, healing skin's percentage crude protein content and histological examinations. White soft paraffin and 3% oxytetracycline ointment were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Wound area changes over a 15 day period for mice treated with C. quadrangularis and A. multiflorum extract ointments were comparable to those of the positive control (oxytetracycline ointment). Wounds managed with the same extract ointments exhibited high crude protein contents, similar to what was observed on animals treated with the positive control. Histological evaluations revealed that C. quadrangularis had superior wound healing properties with the wound area completely returning to normal skin structure by day 15 of the experiment. E. abyssinica leaf and bark extract ointments exhibited lower wound healing properties though the leaf extract exhibited some modest healing properties. KEYWORDS: Adenium multiflorum; Cissus quadrangularis; Erythrina abyssinica; ethnoveterinary; plant extract ointments; wound healing PMID: 28932192 PMCID: PMC5592899 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00544