Natural wound healing and bioactive natural products

A wound is a disruption of the normal anatomical structure and function of a tissue. Wounds cure in an orderly and timely repair process which is characterized by thr-ee dynamic and interactive phases: inflammation, proliferation and the remodeling. The present review was designed to elaborate the cellular and molecular targets for plant secondary metabolites that target the various aspects of wound repair process. The common mechanism of action of natural products established through in vitro and animal studies include direct action on skin cells regeneration, increase in con-nective tissue deposition, antioxidant activity, inflammatory cells activity and mod-ulation of cytokine and growth factor production and/or function. All these demon-strated pharmacological effects could be exploited to overcome an acute or path-ological wound healing conditions. The therapeutic potential of various chemical classes of natural products that act through one or multiple targets are discussed