Wound-healing promoting effect of total tannins from Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr. in rats

- This study investigated effects of TEPT on wound healing process using a rat wound infection model.
- Effects of TEPT on fibroblast proliferation and migration in NIH3T3 mice were studied separately by MTT assay and scratch test.
- TEPT can promote the healing of infectious wounds in rats.

The healing of wounds has always provided challenges for the medical community whether chronic or acute. Modern and traditional medicine has proved that herbal medicine shown superiority over chemical drugs. Herein, we report an Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr. extract with a total tannin content of 76.18% showed wound-healing promoting effect in rat model. We found significantly accelerated wound closure already on day 7 in animals treated with total Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr. tannins (TEPT) as compared to vaseline treated controls (p < 0.05). At day 15, histologically, the wounds in animals treated with TEPT were completely closed as compared to controls. In vitro, TEPT promotes fibroblast proliferation and migration into wounds of NIH3T3 with concentration range of 9.38-37.50 μg/ml. TEPT also had an inhibitory action against Staphylococcus aureus with MBC of 1.5 mg/ml and the result was further proved by transmission electron microscope. Thus, TEPT could promote wound shrinkage, improve healing rate and promote healing of infectious wounds in rats. And this effect may due to antibacterial activities and NIH3T3 cell pro-proliferative effect of the tannins compounds, which indicating that TEPT can be used as efficient treatment in traumatic injury.