Development and evaluation of herbomineral ointment from Bauhinia variegata L. for wound healing effects

Abstract

The present study has been undertaken to formulate and evaluate the herbomineral ointment containing Bauhinia variegata L. extract. The ointment formulation was designed by using aqueous extract of stem barks of Bauhinia variegata (Linn.), mineral and other excipients needed for formulation. Wound healing activity of herbomineral ointment was evaluated in excision and incision wound models in rats. The ointment was prepared by using B. variegata extract, prawal bhasma, propylene glycol, stearyl alcohol, white petrolatum and required amount of distilled water. The prepared herbomineral ointment was evaluated for physical appearance, pH, spreadability, skin irritation to observe side effects and also for wound healing activity. The herbomineral formulation was found to be good in appearance, homogeneity and it possessed significant (P <0.001) wound healing effect compared to the positive control group and nearly comparable with a standard group. In the incision wound model of rats, the formulation showed a significant increase in the skin breaking strength compared to control and reference standard. The results suggested that herbomineral formulation possessed significant wound healing potential.