Abstract:
Introduction: Wounds are defined as an opening or breaking in the integrity of the skin that
cause disruption of anatomical and functional integrity of living tissues. The leaves of Ficus
vasta are traditionally used to treat wounds. However, there are no scientific data on wound
healing activity of the plant.
Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the wound healing activity of 80%
methanol crude extract and solvent fractions of Ficus vasta leaves in mice.
Methods: The leaves of Ficus vasta were dried, grounded, and macerated with 80% methanol.
The acute dermal toxicity test was done by applying 2000mg/kg of 10% (w/w) crude extract.
Two dose of 5% (lowest) and 10% w/w (highest) of crude extract and solvent fractions (nhexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous) with simple ointment were used. The wound healing activity
of the crude extract was evaluated on excision, incision, and burn wound models while the
fractions were evaluated only on excision wound model. The wound healing progress was
evaluated by wound contraction, period of epithelialization and histophatological study for
excision and burn wound model whereas tensile strength for the incision wound model. The
results were analyzed using SPSS version 28 software and the result was considered significant,
when p < 0.05
Result: Upon the application of 2000mg/kg of the 10% w/w of the crude extract ointment, no
signs of dermal toxicity were observed in mice. Both 5% and 10% crude extract revealed
significant wound healing activity compared with simple ointment as evidenced by an increase in
the percent of wound contraction and a decrease in epithelization period (p < 0.001) on both the
excision and burn wound model. In addition, both 5% and 10% extract ointments resulted in a
significant increase in tensile strength (p < 0.001) compared with simple ointment on incision
model. Both the 5% and 10% (w/w) aqueous and ethyl acetate fractions showed significant
wound healing activity (p < 0.001) than the hexane fractions and simple ointment on excision
model.
Conclusion: The increase in wound contraction, reduction in period of epithelialization, and
increase in tensile strength support the traditional claims of Ficus vasta for wound healing.
