In-vivo Wound Healing and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of the Solvent Fraction of Zehneria scabra L.F. Sond (Cucurbitaceae) Leaves

Nebeyi Fisseha,1 Workineh Woldeselassie Hammeso,2 Dejen Nureye,1 Tarekegn Tesfaye,1 Tesfaye Yimer3 1Department of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mizan-Tepi University, Mizan-Aman, South West Region, Ethiopia; 2Department of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia; 3Department of Pharmacy, College of Health Science, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Nebeyi Fisseha, PO Box: 260, Mizan-Aman, Ethiopia, Tel +251913214835, Email [email protected]: Wounds continue to be a difficult clinical problem, with early and late consequences causing significant morbidity and death. As a result, proper wound management is critical. In addition to contemporary medicine, medicinal herbs serve an essential role in the treatment of wounds and bacterial infections. Z. scabra is a medicinal plant that has traditionally been used to treat wounds. However, there are no scientific reports on solvent fraction wound healing activities. As a result, the current study presents a scientific assessment of the wound healing ability of the solvent fractions of Z. scabra leaves.Methods: The leaves were crushed and macerated three times in 80% methanol. Chloroform, ethyl acetate, and aqueous fractions of simple ointment at 5% w/w and 10 percent w/w strengths were prepared using the fusion technique based on the British Pharmacopoeia. Excision and incision wound models were used to assess the solvent fractions’ wound healing activities. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of crude and solvent fractions was tested in mice utilizing a carrageenan-induced hindpaw edema model.Results: In rats, a test dose of 2000 mg/kg of the 10% w/w crude extract ointment was found to be safe. Groups treated with the 5% and 10% ethyl acetate fractions of the extract experienced significant (p< 0.05 and p< 0.01) wound reduction in the excision wound model. When compared to the negative control, the length of epithelization in groups treated with 10% ethyl acetate fraction and aqueous fractions of Z. scabra was statistically significant (p 0.001). By lowering the amount of carrageenan-induced paw edema, the leaf extract and the chloroform fraction of Z. scabra demonstrated a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect.Conclusion: The extract showed remarkable wound healing and anti-inflammatory activity and might be recommended for the treatment of many types of human wounds.Keywords: wound healing, anti-inflammatory excision, wound model, Zehneria scabr

Antimalarial agents from medicinal plant and fungal sources

Malaria is the fourth major parasitic infectious disease for humans, causing severe symptoms and life-threatening complications, which, if untreated within 24–48 h may evolve in the fatality. In the past five decades, major initiatives in the treatment and prevention of this devastating disease have been implemented in endemic areas, leading to significant progress and declining trends. The majority of the reports presented here are focused on the activity of the extracts and fractions of plant or fungal origin: this approach has its rationale in the observation that crude materials are often more active than isolated compounds, due to the manifestation of beneficial synergistic and additional effects and/or pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic interactions. Consideration has been given to the antiplasmodial activities in relation to the different herbal part and nature of extracting solvents and to safety studies; whenever available, phytochemical fingerprint has been reported, disclosing a variety of unique molecular scaffolds with a potential as new pharmacophores. Despite the general lack of mechanistic information for the curative effects of the reported plants and fungi, these studies may undoubtedly pave the way to a new generation of antimalarial agents