Dermal wound healing potency of single alkaloid (betaine) versus standardized crude alkaloid enriched-ointment of Evolvulus alsinoides

Context: Evolvulus alsinoides Linn. (Convolvulaceae), well known as shankhpushpi in Ayurvedic text, is traditionally used for several healing purposes.

Objective: A comparative evaluation of dermal wound healing potential of acidic and basic alkaloid enriched-ointment (AAO and BAO) of aerial parts of E. alsinoides versus pure alkaloid, betaine (BEO), was undertaken.

Material and methods: The effect of topical application (50?mg/animal/day) of AAO-1%, AAO-2%, BAO-1%, BAO-2%, BEO-0.5% and BEO-1% was assessed through excision (14 days) and incision (10 days) models on rats. The percentage wound contraction, total protein content, and breaking strengths were determined followed by histopathological studies.

Results and discussion: The total alkaloid in acidic and basic alkaloid enriched fractions was found to be 0.1114 and 0.1134?μg/mL, respectively. Thus, 0.1528, 0.3056, 0.1380 and 0.2459?μg of total alkaloid were estimated to be present in AAO-1%, AAO-2%, BAO-1% and BAO-2%, respectively. AAO and BAO promoted wound healing activity significantly in both the models. Higher rate of wound contraction (p?p?E. alsinoides. Early dermal and epidermal regeneration in drug-treated groups also confirmed the positive effect.

Conclusion: Observation of higher healing power of alkaloid enriched-ointment compared with single alkaloid ointment corroborated the synergy mechanism.