SciencePG-Pharmaceutical Design and Evaluation of Diabetic Wound Healing Therapy

Abstract: Diabetic wound is a serious health issue that occurs in approximately 15 percent of patients with diabetes. The management of diabetic foot ulcers constitutes a major challenge as several cases of limb amputations and deaths are recorded every year, despite the management therapies available. Amongst other plants, Vernonia amygdalina and Dacryodes edulis have been shown to exhibit significant wound healing activity alongside diabetes management. This study was done at Quality Care Laboratory and aimed at designing and evaluating gels from the leaves of V. amygdalina and D. edulis for the management of diabetic wounds. 40 Streptozotocin-induced diabetic albino rats were used, twenty in phase 1 and twenty in phase 2. The wound healing efficacy of the leaves of these plants were evaluated on excision wounds of 4cm2 in diabetic rats. Analysis of mean contraction rates generated during the experiment was done using GraphPad Prism version 5. Four gels (F1= 0.5%w/w,
F2=1.0%w/w, F3=0.0%w/w and F4=0.5%w/w standardized) were formulated using the plant extracts and all gels exhibited acceptable pharmaceutical characteristics. The wound healing efficacy of each gel was equally evaluated on wounded diabetic albino rats. At the end of the study there was a statistically significant difference (P=0.02) between wound contraction rates on days 0 and day 14 in animals treated with the formulated gels. However, by day 14, there was no statistically significant difference in blood glucose levels (P=0.45). Diabetes induction using a high fat diet and Streptozotocin was 90% successful as 36 out of 40 animals induced were diabetic throughout the experimentation period. All prepared gels showed good physical properties in terms of homogeneity, consistency, spreadability and pH value. The leaves of the plants D. edulis and V. amygdalina alongside the formulated gels should further be investigated for their fibroblast proliferation ability, angiogenesis stimulation ability and their ability to relieve inflammation as diabetic wound repair is impaired by
diminished fibroblast proliferation, decreased angiogenesis and persistent inflammatory response.