WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY OF URSOLIC ACID ON HYPERGLICEMIC RAT

Objective: Impaired wound healing in diabetic patients is a serious complication that can lead to amputation and even death. Proper diabetic wound management is needed to improve the quality of life of diabetic patients. Plantago major (plantain) has been used empirically for wound healing. One of its chemical compounds, ursolic acid, has been studied on non hyperglicemic wound. This study was conducted to determine the wound healing activity of ursolic acid on hyperglycemic rats, as a model for diabetic wound. Methods: Ursolic acid was isolated from methanol extract of P. major using vacuum and open column chromatography. The physical data, IR, ESI-MS, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR data of the isolate were then analyzed. A total of 24 hyperglicemic male rats (Wistar) were divided into 4 groups (G1-G4), and subsequently treated with gel contained 37.5 and 75 g of ursolic acid, gel base, and bioplacenton®, respectively. Drugs were applied topically on animals’ wounds created on the dorsal part (length of 2 cm, a depth of 5 mm), once a day during 21 days. Wound healing activity was evaluated based on the percentage of wound closure and wound healing time. Results: The results showed that ursolic acid was able to increase the percentage of wound closure (100%) compared to the negative control (83%). Moreover, ursolic acid accelerated wound healing time (13.6 days) compared to the negative control (24.4 days). Conclusion: Ursolic acid can be used as a drug candidate for diabetic wound healing