The healing of burn wounds has been widely characterized to be highly intricate, involving processes such as neo-vascularization, granulation, re-epithelialization, inflammation and wound contraction. Various therapies are available for the management of burn wounds; however, a truly effective therapeutic strategy has yet to be identified due to safety issues. The aim of the present study was to assess and confirm the burn wound healing properties of the compounds asiaticoside (AE) and madecassoside (MA), which are found in the herb Centella asiatica. The cytotoxic nature of the AE and MA were inspected and were confirmed to be non-toxic up to 500 ppm. The compounds AE and MA increased monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 production, but caused no significant effect on vascular endothelial growth factor production. In addition, an in vivo animal burn model was employed to represent the features of burn wound healing. Hence, the present results warrant the further investigation of C. asiatica extracts for use in burn healing.
Keywords: asiaticoside; burn wound; cytotoxicity; in vivo; madecassoside.