Wound Healing Potential of Rynchophorus phoenicis Oil in Wistar Rats

The process of wound healing is a complicated biological process that repairs damaged tissue by involving successive stages of repair. Natural products have become of interest as alternative wound healing agents due to their availability, affordability and potential therapeutic effects. In this study, the potential of Rhynchophorus phoenicis oil was assessed using an excision wound model in Wistar rats. The 10%, 20% and 30% R. phoenicis oil were prepared using a standard ointment base of cetostearyl alcohol, wool fat, hard paraffin and white soft paraffin. Twenty Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 4). Group I was the negative control (vehicle), Group II was treated with penicillin ointment (positive control), and Groups III-V were treated with 10%, 20% and 30% oil ointments of R. phoenicis respectively. Excision wounds were done on the dorsal area and topical treatment was done daily for 10 days. On days 0, 3, 7 and 10, wound contraction was measured. Progressive wound contraction was observed in all groups. However, there was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) between the treated groups and the control group at all time points. There was also no significant improvement of the positive control over the control. In conclusion, oil of Rhynchophorus phoenicis did not significantly increase wound healing at the concentrations used. The healing effects could have been due to the ointment base used. It is suggested that further research needs to be conducted to optimize the formulation and test more healing parameters.