WOUND HEALING AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC LEAVES EXTRACT OF MELISSA OFFICINALIS AND STREBLUS ASPER

Abstract

The current research was aimed at assessing the wound healing potential of the methanolic leaf extracts of Melissa officinalis and Streblus asper by employing the excisional wound model in albino Wistar rats. The methanolic extracts were obtained by Soxhlet extraction to facilitate effective recovery of phytoconstituents and then formulated as topical ointments at 5% and 10% concentration employing a compatible ointment base. These preparations were applied topically to full-thickness excisional wounds, and their therapeutic potential for wound healing was compared with a control treatment group given soframycin ointment. Wound contraction rate, epithelialization time, and histopathological structure of the tissue formed during healing were measured to assess the therapeutic activity. Histological analysis of wound tissue showed increased re-epithelialization, fibroblast proliferation, neovascularization, and collagen deposition in extract-treated groups, reflecting active regeneration of tissue. From the formulations so evaluated, 10% methanolic ointment of Melissa officinalis exhibited the maximum percentage of contraction of wound (97.84%) on the 14th day, significantly greater than that by the corresponding Streblus asper formulation (96.41%) (p < 0.01). Equivalently, the 5% Melissa officinalis cream showed a contraction rate of 95.72%, slightly greater than that in the 5% Streblus asper group (94.56%). These results indicate that the two plant extracts have significant wound healing activity, which may be due to their bioactive phytochemicals like flavonoids, tannins, and phenolic compounds having been proven to accelerate tissue repair by causing antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial effects.