Phytochemical properties of a rare mangrove Aegialitis rotundifolia Roxb. leaf extract and its influence on human dermal fibroblast cell migration using wound scratch model

Abstract

Background: Aegialitis rotundifolia Roxb. is a small mangrove plant traditionally used for curing pain arising from sundry injuries. At present, there are no scientific evidences of its wound healing properties and few reports have claimed that reduction of pain could accelerate the wound healing process. Aims and Objectives: The present work deals with the qualitative and quantitative study of the phytoconstituents present in A. rotundifolia Roxb., ethanolic leaves extract and also evaluate its wound healing properties in vitro. Materials and Methods: The qualitative phytochemical analysis of the extract was performed using preliminary phytochemical tests whereas the quantitative determination of phytochemicals was evaluated spectroscopically using ultraviolet spectroscopy. The in vitro wound healing activity was determined on human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells using the wound scratch assay. Results: The quantitative estimation of phytochemicals revealed that total phenolics was the most abundantly found phytochemical followed by a total flavonoid, total flavonol, total tannin, total alkaloid, total proanthocyanidin, and total saponin. In the in vitro wound healing assay, the sample was first examined for possible cytotoxicity on HDF cells where the results showed that it was slightly toxic at higher concentration (inhibit cell growth by 50%: 157.41 ± 3.4 μg/mL); thus, a concentration of 40 and 80 μg/mL was taken to carry out the scratch assay. The wound scratch assay revealed significant (P < 0.01) wound healing activity in a dosedependent manner at 40 and 80 μg/mL concentrations. Conclusion: Thus, the extract proved effective in wound healing which may have been attributed by the presence of several bioactive phytochemicals.