Wound Healing and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Leaf Gel of Aloe trigonantha L.C. Leach in Rats
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Aloe trigonantha L.C. Leach, which locally called ‘Eret’ (Amharic), is among endemic Aloe
species of Ethiopia. Traditionally its leaf is used for the treatment of different ailments including
wound and infectious as well as inflammatory diseases. However, there was no in vivo studies
which prove its claimed use for wound healing and anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, the
present study was aimed at evaluating the in-vivo wound healing and anti-inflammatory effects
of the leaf gel of the plant in rats. The leaf gel powder of the plant was prepared after drying the
gel in lyophilizer. It was studied for wound healing activity topically by incorporating in simple
ointment base in concentration of 5% (w/w) and 10% (w/w). Excision and incision models were
used for wound healing activity in rats. Parameters including wound contraction and period of
epithelialization were studied in case of the excision wound model, while wound tensile strength
was evaluated using incision wound model. Xylene induced ear edema model and cotton pellet
induced granuloma model were used for anti-inflammatory study. The leaf gel powder of A.
trigonantha was given orally at dose of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg in both models of antiinflammatory
studies. An anti-inflammatory effect was measured by reduction of ear edema
weight and reduction of wet exudate and dry granuloma weight in both of xylene induced ear
edema and cotton pellet induced granuloma models respectively. Treatment of wound with
ointment containing 5% and 10% (w/w) of the gel exhibited significantly increased wound
contraction rate, shorter epithelialization time, higher skin breaking strength (p < 0.05) compared
to control. A. trigonantha leaf gel powder also produced dose-dependent significant reductions
(p < 0.05) of inflammation compared to control in both models. Therefore, results of the current
study demonstrated that A. trigonantha is a potential wound-healing and anti-inflammatory agent
in rat models of wound and inflammation which provides evidence for the traditional claim
Description
Keywords
Aloe trigonantha, wound healing, anti-inflammatory, granuloma model, ear edema model