Ethnopharmacological relevance: Scorzonera species are mainly used against arteriosclerosis, kidney diseases, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and rheumatism, as well as for pain relief and wound healing in Turkish folk medicine. In the current study, aerial parts and roots of Scorzonera cinerea, Scorzonera incisa, Scorzonera latifolia, Scorzonera mollis ssp. szowitsii, Scorzonera parviflora, and Scorzonera tomentosa collected from different regions of Anatolia and yakı sakızı which is prepared by drying the latex is obtained from the roots of Scorzonera latifolia were evaluated for their wound healing and anti-inflammatory effects.
Materials and methods: In vivo wound healing activity of the plants was evaluated by linear incision and circular excision wound models. Hydroxyproline content of the treated tissues was also assessed. Acetic acid-induced capillary permeability test was used for anti-inflammatory activity. For the determination of the active constituents, a new high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed. Precision of the developed method was performed by the evaluation of intra-day and inter-day variations of the each standard at limits of quantification (LOQ) levels.
Results: The aqueous methanolic extracts of Scorzonera latifolia, Scorzonera mollis ssp. szowitsii demonstrated the highest activities. The main compound was detected as chlorogenic acid both in roots and aerial parts of the most Scorzonera species and hyperoside or rutin was determined as one of the main component of the aerial parts.
Conclusion: The experimental study revealed that methanol-water extracts from aerial parts of Scorzonera latifolia and Scorzonera mollis ssp. szowitsii were found to have better activity on the wound healing compared to the other extracts and control groups. This might be due to the combined effect of the constituents present in the extracts.
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