Formulation and evaluation of herbal gel of Pothos scandens Linn

ObjectiveTo formulate Pothos scandens Linn (P. scandens) leaf extract in to a gel and investigate their burn wound healing activity.MethodsEthanolic extract of dried leaves of P. scandens were subjected to priliminery phytochemical evaluation and wound healing activities studies. Different gel formulations of ethanolic extract of P. scandens (4% w/v) were prepared using polymers carbopol 934 and carbopol 940 by varying their concentration. These formulations were evaluated for physical parameters, drug content, pH, viscosity, extrudability, spreadability, primary skin irritation, pharmacological activity and stability.ResultsWound healing studies of ethanolic extract revealed that P. scandens treated animals were found to epithelise in 22 days while the solvent control and the untreated rats epithelise within 35 and 40 days respectively. The formulation with 1.5% w/w carbopol 934 was found to be more promising as it shows better physicochemical characteristics, higher pharmacological activity and stability compared to other formulations.ConclusionsP. scandens alcoholic extract shows significant improvement in burn wound contraction and hence this is a promising candidate in burn wound healing.