Assessment of wound healing action of ethanolic extract of Melaleuca bracteata leaf

The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate the wound healing action of Melaleuca bracteata leaf extract in rats. The powdered leaves were defatted with petroleum ether and extracted with ethanol using soxhlet apparatus. The extraction yield was found to be 21.4%. The total phenolic content of ethanolic extract of M. bracteata was 74.27±0.59 GAE mg/g. The topical application of 5 % w/w of the Melaleuca bracteata extract containing ointments on the wound resulted in an enhanced and statistically significant (p < 0.05) wound healing activity in vivo using the excision model. The plant extract exhibited 80.104 ± 5.86 % contraction of wound on the 20th day whereas only 47.739 ± 5.46 % contraction of wound was found in the control animals. The occurrence of tannins in the ethanolic extract could be attributed for the effective wound healing action by the ethanolic extract.