Properties of Wound Healing Activities of Rosemary Extract

Abstract

The process of wound healing begins to restore the integrity and normal function of damaged tissue. At the site of injury free radicals are produced. They can make the processes of wound healing slowly. They do this with causing damage to cellular membranes, proteins, nucleotides and lipids. Antioxidants as a therapy, can promote the process of wound healing. Rosemary extract has different antioxidant components. In this study, we evaluated rosemary extract for its possible wound healing properties, when it is used topically in the site of injury. We divided male Wistar rats in 5 groups (n=10/group) and a full-thickness 2cm*2cm skin excision was made. Groups 1–4 were treated with 15 %, 10 % and 5 % of the rosemary extracts in eucerin and comparative treatment (phenytoin 1 % in eucerin) respectively. Group 5 was treated with eucerin as the control group. The substances were applied topically once a daily until re-epithelialization was recorded. Faster wound re-epithelialization was observed in rats treated with 15 %, 10 % and 5 % of the rosemary extracts in eucerin compared with group 5 (eucerin). A significant reduction were observed in wound length and the re-epithelialization rate was faster in Rosemary extract groups, compared with the group 5 (control group) (P<0.05). The re-epithelialization period (time until normal skin replaces the wound) of the group 1–4 was shorter than group 5. (15, 14, 18 compared with 26). The results show that rosemary extract can be developed to a new topical medicine for wound healing.