ANTIBACTERIAL AND WOUND HEALING ACTIVITIES OF MELASTOMA MALABATHRICUM LINN.

Melastoma malabathricum Linn. (Melastomataceae), locally known as senduduk putih, is a well-known plant in Malaysian traditional medicine. On the basis of its traditional use and literature reference, this plant was selected for evaluation of its wound healing and antibacterial activities. Methanol extract of M. malabathricum was examined for its wound healing activity in the form of an ointment in two types of wound model in rats: (i) the excision wound model and (ii) the incision wound model. The methanol extract ointment produced a significant response in both of the wound types tested. The results were also comparable with the standard drug, nitrofurazone, in terms of wound contracting ability, wound closure time, tensile strength and regeneration of tissues at the wound site. Regarding antibacterial activity, M. malabathricum extract inhibited the different clinical wound isolates of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa with MIC ranging from 3.0 mg/ml for 3 of the 4 clinical strains of S. aureus to 8.0 mg/ml for all the 3 clinical strains of P. aeruginosa tested