Effect of andrographolide on the pathological events during the surgical open wound healing process

Abstract

Abstract Wound healing is an important physiological process and several natural and synthetic drugs are being tested to speed up the process to avoid infection and other undesirable pathological events. Although andrographolide has been reported to be an excellent bioactive compound that can influence multiple pathways in the cells, its wound healing property has not been widely appreciated. In this study, we wanted to exhibit the improvement in the pathological events concerning wound healing process by injecting andro in a surgical wound model in rats. The right paw of female SD rats was operated and after 5 days, pathological events in the operated right paw was observed by staining the sections using hematoxylin & eosin dyes to elucidate the dermal and epidermal changes, while Mason’s trichrome staining was performed on the sections to show the granulation layer formation and provide supporting evidence for angiogenesis and ECM deposition. Pathological score was given to the sections according to the extent of the changes observed and the results suggested that epidermal changes were scored almost similar in both saline and andro injected rats (2-3), while angiogenesis and inflammation were moderately improved in favor of wound healing in the andro injected rats (2.5 & 3.7 respectively) compared to saline-injected rats (3 & 4 respectively). The results clearly suggested that, though the improvement due to andro injection was moderate, these observations might create an awareness regarding the wound healing property of andro. Further studies are required to optimize the dosage of andro to influence the molecular pathways in order to show a better wound healing activity.