Evaluation of in vivo wound healing activity of Moroccan Citrus reticulata peel extract

Value added bioactive compounds from fruits & vegetables waste for assessing their antimicrobial activity

Since ancient time, plants and there parts have been used widely against dreadful pathogens due to ability of killing microbes. Waste from fruits and vegetables are pulling in more interest in exploration due to their therapeutic properties such as anti-pathogenic activity. In the present study antimicrobial and cytotoxicity properties of herbal combination prepared from peels of Allium cepa, Cucumis sativus, Citrus reticulata, and Mangifera indica were investigated. The herbal combination was tested for broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans, Bacillus licheniformis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Citrobacter freundii. The presence of phytochemical markers such as phenolics and flavanoids were also investigated. The results revealed that the herbal combination exhibited antimicrobial activity against S. mutans, B. licheniformis, L. plantarum, E. coli and moderate against P. aeruginosa and C. freundii. The presence of phenolics (798 ± 1.52 µg/g) and flavanoids (355.3 ± 2.081 µg/g) was also detected. Also, the herbal combination contains flavanoids such as quercetin and rutin was confirmed with the help of column chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) analysis. The herbal combination helps in the proliferation of L929 cells without affecting their viability was confirmed by MTT assay. The results of the present research suggests the possibility to use herbal combination as source for plausible antibacterial agent which could be isolated and used as a lead candidate for the development of antibacterial drug that help to limit or stop infectious illnesses caused by different pathogenic microbes.

Investigation on wound healing effect of Mediterranean medicinal plants and some related phenolic compounds: A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The human skin constitutes a biological barrier against external stress and wounds can reduce the role of its physiological structure. In medical sciences, wounds are considered a major problem that requires urgent intervention. For centuries, medicinal plants have been used in the Mediterranean countries for many purposes and against wounds.

AIM OF THIS REVIEW

Provides an outlook on the Mediterranean medicinal plants used in wound healing. Furthermore, the wound healing effect of polyphenolic compounds and their chemical structures are also summarized. Moreover, we discussed the wound healing process, the structure of the skin, and the current therapies in wound healing.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The search was performed in several databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. The following Keywords were used individually and/or in combination: the Mediterranean, wound healing, medicinal plants, phenolic compounds, composition, flavonoid, tannin.

RESULTS

The wound healing process is distinguished by four phases, which are respectively, hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The Mediterranean medicinal plants are widely used in the treatment of wounds. The finding showed that eighty-nine species belonging to forty families were evaluated for their wound-healing effect in this area. The Asteraceae family was the most reported family with 12 species followed by Lamiaceae (11 species). Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria were the countries where these plants are frequently used in wound healing. In addition to medicinal plants, results showed that nineteen phenolic compounds from different classes are used in wound treatment. Tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, curcumin, luteolin, chrysin, rutin, kaempferol, quercetin, icariin, morin, epigallocatechin gallate, taxifolin, silymarin, hesperidin, naringin, isoliquiritin, puerarin, genistein, and daidzein were the main compounds that showed wound-healing effect.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, medicinal plants and polyphenolic compounds provide therapeutic evidence in wound healing and for the development of new drugs in this field.

In Silico, In Vitro, and In Vivo Wound Healing Activity of Astragalus microcephalus Willd

Methods

The methanolic root extract was prepared by maceration, and flavonoids were evaluated by LC/MS. In silico examination was performed based on the LC/MS results, and the binding affinity of these compounds to estrogen receptors (ERs) α and β was evaluated. Wound healing evaluation in both in vitro (NHDF cell line, by 500 μg/ml concentration of the extract, 24 h) and in vivo (Wistar rat, topical daily treated with 1.5% of the extract ointment, 21 days) conditions in comparison to control groups was conducted. Rats' control groups included silver sulfadiazine, Vaseline, and the nontreated groups.

Results

Eleven flavonoids were detected using LC/MS. The in silico study showed that formononetin, kaempferol-based structures, quercetin-3-O-neohesperidoside, and calycosin-7-O-beta-D-glucoside had a high affinity (<-6.3) to ERs α and β. Wound closing measurement showed significant improvement in the group treated with the extract in both in vitro and in vivo assays compared to the control groups. Histopathological results confirmed these findings; inflammation factors decreased, and fibroblast proliferation, fibrosis, and epithelization increased, especially in the extract group.

Conclusion

This study shows that Astragalus microcephalus has wound healing activity in vitro and in vivo with low toxicity due to the presence of flavonoids, especially isoflavonoids, which show a high affinity to bind to ERs α and β in the skin tissue.