ABSTRACT
Aim: This study investigates the wound healing activity of ethanol leaf extract of Erythrina senegalensis using excision wound model on albino rats. Methodology: Several herbal extract formulations were prepared with Petroleum Jelly ointment base. Cicatrin® powder (neomycin-bacitracin) was used as the positive control. The various ointment formulations were applied topically on the wounds daily for 21 days. Daily wound contraction and epithelialisation times were recorded for each group. The antibacterial activity of the extract was also evaluated against some bacteria species implicated in wound infections. The following test organisms were used: Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Results: The Phytochemical analysis revealed that alkaloids were abundant in the extract. The herbal ointment at various concentrations showed significant (P<.05) increase in percentage wound contraction on day 9 – 21 compared with the control group that received only the ointment base. The contraction produced by 40% w/w of the extract was similar to that of Cicatrin® powder on day 6 – 21. The results also revealed significant (P<.05) reduction in epithelialisation time exhibited by the extract treated animals compared to those of the control group. The result of antimicrobial studies showed that the extract inhibited the test organisms at concentrations ranging from 200 to 12.5 mg/mL. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of the extract on the test isolates was recorded at 25mg/mL for both S. aureus and E. coli and 6.25mg/ml for K. pneumoniae. P. aeruginosa showed no susceptibility to both the extract and the control drug at the concentrations evaluated. Conclusion: The marked reduction of wound size and epithelialisation time by the extract is an indication of its wound healing potentials. Also, the antibacterial activity of this plant against bacterial species implicated in wound infections may contribute to the enhanced wound healing activity.
ABSTRACT
The cytotoxic and apoptotic potentials of four commercial tinctures of S. baicalensis (SB1, SB2, SB3 and SB4) were investigated on three human lung cancer cells SK-MES-1, SK-LU-1 and A549. The number of cells that survived treatment with different concentrations of the tincture in 24, 48 and 72 hours was quantified by the colorimetric MTT assay. Acridine orange/ Propidium iodide dye exclusion assay was used to test for apoptosis in 24 and 48 hours at 200 μg/ml concentration of the tinctures. All the tinctures except SB4 showed a dose and time-dependent effect on the cancer cells. The minimum cytotoxic concentration of SB1, SB2, and SB3 sample tinctures on the SK-MES-1 and SK-LU-1 cells was approximately 100 μg/ml in 48 hours. 100 μg/ml of SB1 and SB2 tinctures have significant (p<0.05) cytotoxic activity on the SK-MES-1 cells in 72 hours. The A549 cells were the least sensitive to toxicity as significant effect on growth inhibition was not seen until 300 μg/ml. Of all the tinctures, only the SB1 showed significant (p<0.05) cytotoxic activity on nontransforming normal dividing FS5 cells, pointing to the possibility of a non-specific side effect at 400 μg/ml. Estimating duration of effect from the time taken to reverse cell growth inhibition, SB1 tinctures had the longest effect of up to 72 hours on the SKMES- 1 cells. Other tinctures showed significant (p<0.05) time-dependdent inhibition of cell growth up to at least 48 hours. Typical apoptotic morphological changes were observed with SB1, SB2 and SB3 tinctures in 24 hours but were more pronounced after 48 hours. The tinctures showed variable characteristics in terms of their dose response, duration of action and potential side effects. There is therefore an urgent need to standardize and regulate the manufacture of herbal formulations and establish a scientific evidence base on the use of commercial formulations of S. baicalensis.