Ethnopharmacological relevance: Medicinal plants are crucial to healing numerous illnesses. Elaeis guineensis Jacq (family Arecaceae) is a medicinal plant traditionally used for the treatment of wounds.
Aim of the study: However, there are no scientific reports documented on the wound healing activities of this plant against Staphylococcus aureus infections in the Sprague Dawley male rat model. Thus, the present study was conducted to evaluate the wound healing potential of E. guineensis extract leaves.
Materials and methods: The crude extract was prepared in 10% (w/w) ointment and evaluated for wound healing activity using excision and infected wound models in Sprague Dawley rats. The wound healing activity was evaluated from wound closure rate, CFU reduction, histological analysis of granulation tissue and matrix metalloprotease expression.
Results: The results show that the E. guineensis extract has potent wound healing ability, as manifest from improved wound closure and tissue regeneration supported by histopathological parameters. Assessment of granulation tissue every fourth day showed a significant reduction in the microbial count. The expression of matrix metalloproteinases was well correlated with the other results, hence confirming E. guineensis wound healing activity's effectiveness.
Conclusions: E. guineensis enhanced infected wound healing in rats, thus supporting its traditional use.
Keywords: Elaeis guineensis; Infected wound healing; Metalloproteinases; Staphylococcus aureus.
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