A NOVEL THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF THE WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY OF BOSWELLIA SERRATA EXTRACT (BOSWEGEX®) BY USING THE HUMAN DERMAL FIBROBLAST (HDF) CELL LINE: AN IN-VITRO STUDY

The Indian medicinal plant Boswellia serrata, sometimes known as frankincense in the West, has been used in traditional medicine to heal burns and wounds. The objective of this study was to investigate the capability of B. serrata (Boswegex^®) to enhance wound healing by carrying out an in-vitro scratch experiment on human dermal fibroblast cells (HDF). Povidone-Iodine 5% cream was used as a positive control to determine the efficacy of Boswegex^®‘s wound healing activity. The cytotoxicity, along with proliferation and migration activities, were evaluated against the human dermal fibroblast cell line HDF using the MTT [3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium] assay. Interestingly, Boswegex^® was found to stimulate proliferation and migration of HDF cells at given concentrations and enhance the closure rate of the wound area within 24 hours after treatment. Boswegex^® was evaluated for its cytotoxicity at different concentrations ranging from 1000 µg/ml to 0.975 µg/ml, which resulted in 7.78±0.06 µg/ml and hence the concentrations of 2µg/ml and 1µg/ml. In the scratch assay, 349.62µM and 234.8 µM migrations of cells were exhibited at 2µg/ml and 1µg/ml respectively. These findings suggest that Boswegex^® promotes wound healing by enhancing fibroblast and endothelial cell proliferation and migration and has potential for the treatment of wounds.