The potential role of female flowers inflorescence of Typha domingensis Pers. in wound management

Aim of the study: Female flowers inflorescence of Typha species including Typha domingensis Pers. are used externally for burns and wound healing in Turkish folk medicine. In order to verify the folkloric assertion, the female and male flowers inflorescences were individually submitted to in vivo wound models.

Material and methods: Ointment formulations prepared directly either from the male or female flowers inflorescences of Typha domingensis in 5% and 10% concentrations were submitted to activity testing. After that, female flowers inflorescence was further submitted to successive extractions with solvents in increasing polarity; i.e., n-hexane, chloroform, methanol and water and the wound healing activity of each extract was investigated. The linear incision and circular excision wound models were used for the evaluation of the healing potential of the test materials in rats and mice. Tissue sections were also evaluated by histopathological techniques.

Results: Remarkable wound healing activity was observed only for the female flowers inflorescence at 5% concentration in ointment base and its methanolic and aqueous extracts. The wound healing effect was found comparable to that of reference ointment Madecassol(®). The results of histopathological evaluation supported the outcome of both linear incision and circular excision wound models.

Conclusion: The experimental study revealed that the female flowers inflorescence of Typha domingensis displayed notable wound healing activity in mice and rats, at the models tested.