Herbal gel of Alchornea cordifolia polyphenols-rich fractions displayed promising antimicrobial and wound healing activities

Alchornea cordifolia leaves are used ethno-botanically for the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections. The present study is aimed at investigating the antimicrobial and wound-healing effects of gel formulation from the ethyl acetate liquid fractions of the ethanol leaf extract of Alchornea cordifolia. The ethanol extract was subjected to liquid-liquid fractionation using n-heptane and ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate fraction was further subjected to vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) by gradient elution with different solvents. The ethyl acetate fraction and its VLC fractions were subjected to analytical HPLC. The chemical constituents of the ethyl acetate fraction were detected by dereplication using HPLC-DAD. Herbal gels were formulated using the Ethylacetate fraction (EF) and ethyl acetate/ethanol VLC fraction. The physical parameters, antimicrobial activity, Wound healing effect and three months stability study of the gel were evaluated. Eight (8) compounds were identified in the fractions of Alchornea cordifolia and three (3) compounds were identified from the optimized gel by HPLC analysis. The fractions and the gels were found to possess broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. The gels were found to be stable as there was no change in the parameters at end of the three (3) months. Even though, the antimicrobial activity of EV3 herbal gel was lost at the end of the stability studies. Herbal gel formulated from the leaf extract of Alchornea cordifolia possesses antimicrobial and wound healing properties and thus could be a better alternative for the treatment of wounds compared to orthodox medicine.