Grace A Akpanika¹ , Effiong E Nkanor²

Abstract

Purpose: To compare wound healing activity of methanolic root bark extract of Salacia lehmbachii in Wistar rats, with standard and known wound healing ointments. Methods: Phytochemical screening of methanol extract was carried out for primary and secondary metabolites. Acute dermal toxicity study was carried out in (6) Wistar rats using “fixed dose” method. Thirty-six rats of mixed sexes were divided into six groups of 6 rats each, namely: Saline, petroleum jelly; 5 % povidone iodine; 10 % solcoseryl, as well as extract (10 %) in either petroleum jelly or saline. Excision wounds were created and treatment for each group was applied topically on the wounds daily for 13 days. Wound healing was assessed by measuring wound size on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 13. Results: Preliminary phytochemical analysis of the crude extracts indicated the presence of tannins, phenolic compounds, volatile oil, terpenoids, glycosides, saponins, flavonoids, steroids and alkaloids in varying concentrations. Acute dermal toxicity test revealed no toxicity at a dose of 2, 000 mg/kg of extracts. Extract-treated animals exhibited complete wound healing by the thirteenth day of treatment. Extract-treated animals exhibited 77% reduction in the wound area when compared to control, which was 59 %. Petroleum jelly plus extract showed better activity on the seventh day with 11.20 ± 0.73 % reduction in wound size compared to the reference solcoseryl with 11.80 ± 0.37 % (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Methanol extract of Salacia lehmbachii root bark accelerates wound healing process in a dermal wound model, an effect that compares favourably with that observed for standard treatments using Solcoseryl and Povidone iodine. The outcome is indicative of the synergy in activity that exists between petroleum jelly and the extract Salacia lehmbachii.