Background:
Burns are considered a
critical care problem in emergency medicine, resulting in physical, psychological, and chronic disabilities.
Silver sulfadiazine is the gold standard in topical
burn treatment but was associated with toxicity to keratinocytes and fibroblasts, which may delay wound healing. In discovering potential alternative treatments for
burn wound healing, this study was performed to determine the effect of Labisia Pumila (Blume) Fern.-Vill. Var. Alata (LPVa) extract on thermal-
burn wounds in rats. Methods: A total of 50 Sprague-Dawley male rats were categorized into five groups. There were three control groups; normal control (left untreated), negative control (given
ointment base) and positive control (given
silver sulfadiazine). Meanwhile, the two intervention groups were given with 2% LPVa leaf and root extracts, respectively.
Burn wounds were inflicted on the loin region of the rat by applying a heated steel rod at 80°C for 10 s. On days 3, 7, 14, and 21,
wounds were measured macroscopically using a digital calliper and one animals of each group were sacrificed, and the wounded skin were excised for histomorphological assessments. The
wounds were excised for
hydroxyproline content on Day 14 of treatment. Result: For
wound contraction percentage, both the leaf and root extracts of LPVa showed a significant reduction in
burn wound size on Day 7 onwards, when compared to other groups. For
hydroxyproline content, only the leaf extract of LPVa produced significantly higher content compared to both negative and normal control groups. In terms of histological examination, the leaf extract group demonstrated a superior healing effect than the root extract group. Conclusion: Both leaf and root extracts of LPVa could promote wound healing in the thermal-
burn wound rat model, with leaf extract being superior to root extract.