Evaluation of wound healing potential of Bhallatakadi Ghrita - cow ghee based polyherbal formulation: in-vivo excision and incision wound model.

OBJECTIVES: Ghee is widely considered as the Indian name for clarified butterfat and processing of ghee with therapeutic herbs i.e., ghrita is renowned for augmenting their medicinal properties. The wound is considered as a challenging clinical problem with early and late complications. To reduce the burden of wounds with the shortest period and minimum scaring, an attempt was made to prepare and evaluate the wound healing potential of ghee based polyherbal formulation. METHODS: Based on local ethnic tribal claims, Semecarpus anacardium L., Argemone mexicana L., Cocculus hirsutus L., and Woodfordia fruticosa K. were collected from Western Ghats of India. The polyherbal Bhallatakadi Ghrita (BG) formulation was prepared as per Ayurvedic procedure and assessed for its wound healing potential using incision and excision wound animal models. RESULTS: BG treated group showed a complete contraction of wounds (99.82 ± 0.10%) (p<0.001) with 15.17 ± 0.40 days re-epithelization time and breaking strength (531.50 ± 5.89) (p<0.05). The hydroxyproline content of BG was found to be significantly higher i.e., 4.23 ± 0.21 (p<0.05). Quantitative estimation of BG exhibited 54.7 ± 3.7 mg100 g-1 of polyphenols and 42.3 ± 5.4 mg.100 g-1 flavonoids in terms of gallic acid and quercetin respectively. HPLC analysis revealed the presence of gallic acid and quercetin whereas the presence of fatty acids was confirmed by GC-MS analysis. CONCLUSIONS: It may conclude that the presence of quercetin, gallic acid, and fatty acids could have accelerated the healing rate of the ghrita formulation, as they have already been known for their potential wound healing properties.