DEVELOPMENT OF HERBAL NANO EXTERNAL FORMULATION AS OINTMENT WITH URENA LOBATA EXTRACT AND VALIDATION OF ITS WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY IN EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED OPEN WOUNDS IN SWISS ALBINO RATS

Urena lobata is used by traditional practitioners for treating external wounds. A preclinical study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the ointment formulations containing ethanolic extract of Urena lobata (EO) (5%) and nanosized extract (NO) of U. lobata (5%) for their wound healing activity by assessing wound contraction, tensile strength, superoxide dismutase, catalase, reduced glutathione, myeloperoxidase, hydroxyproline, lipid peroxidation and his to pathological studies in experimentally-induced open wounds in Swiss albino rats. Quercetin, an active principle of the formulation, was estimated qualitatively and quantitatively through HPLC studies. Topical application of NO and EO formulations promoted faster reepithelialization, wound contraction and maximized tensile strength, increased SOD, catalase activities and GSH, hydroxyproline levels with lower myeloperoxidase and lipid peroxidation in comparison with control. Histopathological studies revealed lesser inflammatory cell proliferation, degeneration, with marked fibroblast proliferation and collagen maturation than the control group. Results indicate that both NO and EO formulations showed benefits in the management of wounds when compared to the standard povidone ointment.