Assessment of antioxidant and cutaneous wound healing effects of Falcaria vulgaris aqueous extract in Wistar male rats

Treatment of wounds by ethnomedicinal plants which have fewer side effects than chemical drugs has been on the rise. In this experiment, we evaluated cutaneous wound healing potential of aqueous extract of Falcaria vulgaris in Wistar male rats. DPPH free radical scavenging test was used to examine the antioxidant effect of F. vulgaris aqueous extract, which indicated high antioxidant activity compared to butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) as the positive control. In our study, after creating the cutaneous wound on the back of the rats, the animals were randomly divided into four groups; untreated control, treatment with Eucerin ointment, treatment with 3 tetracycline ointment, treatment with 3 F. vulgaris aqueous extract ointment. The groups were treated for 30 days. For histopathological and biochemical analysis of the cutaneous wound healing trend, a 3 × 3 cm section was prepared from all dermal thicknesses at days 10, 20, and 30. The use of F. vulgaris aqueous extract ointment in the treatment groups led to significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the levels of wound area, total cells, lymphocyte, neutrophil, macrophage, and significant enhance (p < 0.05) in the levels of wound contracture, hydroxyproline, hexosamine, fibrocyte, fibroblast, and the rate of fibrocyte to fibroblast as compared to the control and basal ointment groups. According to the results, F. vulgaris aqueous extract ointment can treat the cutaneous wound. © 2018, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature