Wound healing effect of methanolic leaf extract of Napoleona vogelii (Family: Lecythidaceae) in rats

To investigate the wound healing property of Napoleona vogelii leaf extract in folkloric medicine.

Both sexes of adult albino rats (n=25) were used in this study and another group (n=30) were subjected to acute toxicity test (LD50) of the plant extract. For the LD50, three randomized groups of 5 rats were first treated with 10, 100, 1 000 mg/kg body weight (bw), orally. This was followed by a second treatment of 1500, 3000, and 5 000 mg/kg bw of the leaf extract with continual monitoring of the animals for mortality or non-mortality. Incision wounds (1.5 cm) were created on the skin of five groups of 5 rats using surgical blade under anesthesia. The first group was topically treated with petroleum jelly alone, group 2 was topically applied 400 mg/mL w/v of the reference drug, Neobacin, while group 3-5 were topically treated with 5-50 mg/mL w/v of the plant extract, respectively.

The percentage yield of the extract was 49.80% w/w dry matter. The phytochemical analysis revealed several bioactive constituents including glycosides, tannins, alkaloids, perpenoids, saponins, steroids, proteins, and carbohydrates. The LD50 was beyond our experimental limit and was not determined. Increased concentrations (5, 20, and 50 mg/mL w/v) of the extract had significant (ANOVA, P<0.05) healing effect on the incision wounds giving rise to 125%-140% while treatment with Neobacin resulted in 150% healing effect on the third treatment regimen compared to the control (100%).

These data indicate that Napoleona vogelii leaf extract contains potent bioactive compounds containing wound healing activity, substantiating its use as a wound healer in folkloric medicine.