Abstract
Calligonum comosum Family Polygonaceae is a perennial shrub that grows in the desert areas in Saudi Arabia. The plant is extensively used for economic purposes and in Saudi traditional medicine. The plant is used for tanning hides and for wound. The current study aims to provide scientific evidence for the wound healing potential. The plant was extracted with methanol at room temperature and with water by decoction against two Gram-positive bacterial strains; Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, two Gram-negative bacterial strains, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, in addition to a pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. The methanol and water extract were formulated as creams and applied to evaluate the wound healing potential using rats as experimental animals. The methanol extract was more active in the antimicrobial testing and in accelerating the healing of wounds than the water extract. Wound healing potential was accessed via morphological parameters such as wound contraction, epithelization period and detailed as well as histopathological study of the healed skin. The wound was completely healed in the control group treated with Fucidin 2% cream after 18 days, while the methanol extract treated group reached 96.6% wound contraction in the same period. The water extract was much less active and in 18 gays resulted in only 73.2% wound contraction. Skin samples of methanol extract treated rats showed much improvement and almost normal appearance with normal content of collagen fibers, although slight weakness near the epidermis layer was observed. The obtained results strongly document the beneficial effects of C. comosum as wound healing activator and reveal the best method for the extraction of the plant.