Abstract
Steud (
) belongs to the family Asteraceae. It has several uses in folk medicine in the Arabian Peninsula. The current study aimed at evaluating the wound healing properties of the
extract in rats. Primarily,
successfully accelerated cell migration
and it also showed no signs of dermal toxicity. Topical application of
extract (5% or 20%) expedited healing of excised skin in rats. Histological examinations indicated that
shortened epithelization period, stimulated fibroblast activity, and increased collagen deposition in wound tissues. The plant extract exerted antioxidant activity as evidenced by inhibition of GSH depletion and MDA accumulation and enhanced mRNA expression of Sod1 in wound tissues collected at the end of the experiment. Further,
inhibited the rise of TNF-
and IL-1
in the skin wound region. The anti-inflammatory was confirmed by the observed down regulation of Ptgs2, Nos2, IL-6, and NF-
B mRNA expression. In addition, the extract enhanced the expression of TGF-
1 and HIF-1
in wounded skin tissues as indicated immunohistochemically. Conclusively,
expedites excision wound healing in rats. Collagen-enhancing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties mediate the observed wound healing activity. These findings might contribute to our understanding of the ethnobotanical use of
in wounds.