Wound healing potential of Althaea officinalis flower mucilage in rabbit full thickness wounds

• Main Authors: Robab Valizadeh, Ali Asghar Hemmati, Gholamreza Houshmand, Sara Bayat, Mohammad Bahadoram
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2015-11-01
• Series: Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
• Subjects: Wound; Antibacterial; Skin; Mucilage; Althaea flower; Rabbit
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115001835

Objective: To evaluate and practically demonstrate the influence of Althaea officinalis flower mucilage as a plant known in Iran's and other Middle Eastern countries' traditional medicine for its wound healing properties. Methods: Animals were divided into 6 groups of 5 cases including a non-treated group as the negative control group receiving no treatment, a group treated with eucerin as the positive control group, a phenytoin 1% group as a standard group treated topically with phenytoin 1% hand-made ointment, and treatment groups treated with hand-made Althaea officinalis flower mucilage (AFM) ointment in a eucerin base with different concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%). Results: Among the treatment groups, the AFM 15% ointment showed the best result. Wound healing duration was reduced by the surface application of these groups. Wound closure was completed on Days 14 and 15 in the AFM 15% ointment and phenytoin 1% groups, respectively. No significant difference was observed in healing period between these groups. Conclusions: In conclusion, AFM 15% ointment was found to reduce wound healing time without any significant difference with the phenytoin 1% ointment. The authors suggest increased AFM effectiveness in when combined with phenytoin or other effectual plants.