COMMON INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS AS EMERGING WOUND HEALING AGENTS: DEEP INSIGHTS INTO APPLICATIONS AND MECHANISMS

Any bodily harm, such as damage to the skin’s epidermis and disruption of its normal architecture and function, is referred to as a wound. The significance of wound healing has been known since ancient times. Several attempts have been made to design innovative wound dressings composed of the finest materials for speedy and successful wound healing. Medicinal herbs greatly aid the wound healing process. Many researchers have concentrated in recent decades on creating innovative wound dressings that combine medicinal plant extracts or their purified active components, which might be utilized instead of standard wound dressings. Several researchers have looked at the mechanisms of action of different herbal medicines in the wound healing process. This work aims to emphasize and examine the mechanical viewpoint of wound healing mediated by natural compounds. Some herbal medications stimulate re-epithelialization, angiogenesis, granulation tissue development, and collagen fiber deposition by increasing the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF-α). Other wound dressings containing herbal medicines decrease the production of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), resulting in anti-oxidant and antiinflammatory characteristics at different stages of the wound healing process. Aside from the growing public interest in traditional and alternative medicine, using herbal medicine and natural products for wound healing has a number of advantages over using conventional medicines, including greater effectiveness due to multiple mechanisms of action, anti-bacterial activity, and long-term wound dressing safety.