Wound healing activity of Glycosmis arborea leaf extract in rats

Glycosmis arborea Roxb, syn. Glycosmis pentaphylla Retz, (Rutacea) is a shrub found all over India, have been used for the healing of wounds of livestock in Indian folk medicine.

The present study provides a scientific evaluation for the wound healing potential of ethanolic extract of Glycosmis arborea leaves.

Excision and incision wounds were inflicted upon four groups containing six rats each. Group-1 was assigned as control (ointment base), Group-2 and Group-3 were treated with 5 and 10% EtOH extract ointment. Group-4 was treated with standard Nitrofurazone (0.2%) ointment. The parameters observed were percentage of wound contraction, epithelization period, tensile strength, hydroxyproline content. Ethanolic extract of Glycosmis arborea leaves was given orally at a dose of 200, 400mg/kg/day in dead space wound model.

Topical application of Glycosmis arborea ointment (10%) in excision wound model significantly (P<0.05) increased the percentage of wound contraction (96.91%) compared with control (60.27%) and decreased the epithelization time. The tensile strength significantly (P<0.05) increased in Group-3 at 560.33 ± 6.48g when compared to control at 319.17±6.16 g. Rats treated with Glycosmis arborea extract (400mg/kg) showed significant (P<0.05) increase in hydroxyproline content at 54.94 ± 0.96 mg/g when compared with control at 30.77±1.13 mg/g.

The ethanolic extract of Glycosmis arborea facilitated wound healing significantly, corroborating the folk medicinal use of this plant.