Mitali Shrimanker

Diabetes mellitus is one of the common endocrine disorders characterized by deranged secretion of insulin and/or glucagon with extensive disturbance of carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism. GymnemaSylvestre is a woody, climbing plant of tropical forests of central and southern India and in parts of Africa. Gymnema has played an important role in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. Its use has been confined primarily to the management of diabetes mellitus and similar hypo/hyperglycemic conditions. The first scientific confirmation of G. sylvestre use in human diabetics came almost a century back when it was demonstrated that the leaves of G. sylvestre reduce urine glucose in diabetics. Costusigneus Nak commonly known as fiery costus, Step ladder or Spiral flag or Insulin plant, is native to South and Central America. This is a recent introduction to India from America as an herbal cure for diabetes and hence commonly called as 'insulin plant. 

Wounds are the result of injuries to the skin that disrupt the other soft tissue. Healing of a wound is a complex and protracted process of tissue repair and remodeling in response to injury. Various plant products have been used in treatment of wounds over the years. Wound healing herbal extracts promote blood clotting, fight infection, and accelerate the healing of wounds. Phytoconstituents derived from plants and identified and screened for antimicrobial activity, and the ratio was selected for the preparation of ointment. The in vitro assays are useful, quick, and relatively inexpensive. The wound healing efficacies of various herbal extracts have been evaluated in CAM assay in in-vitro model. CAM  was used to assess the angiogenic activity of polyherbal formulation. Angiogenesis plays an important role in wound healing and newly formed blood vessels comprise 60% of the repair tissue. Neovascularization helps hypoxic wounds to attain the normoxic conditions.  The CAM assay was done in prepared Polyherbal formulation , control and standard. As shown in the figure below the Prepared polyherbal formulation possess the good growth of blood vessels as compared to control and standard. This observation indicates that the developed veterinary polyherbal formulation has good angiogenic property. Improved angiogenesis, therefore, would be contributing significantly to wound healing activity of polyherbal formulation.

Wounds are the result of injuries to the skin that disrupt the other soft tissue. Healing of a wound is a complex and protracted process of tissue repair and remodeling in response to injury. A wound can be described as a defect or a break in the skin, resulting from physical or thermal damage or as a result of the presence of an underlying medical or physiological condition. Wound healing is a complex process of cellular and biochemical interactions involving various cells such as keratinocytes, fibroblasts and endothelial cells. The in vitro assays & in vivo models can be performed to evaluate wound healing activity. In vitro models are useful, quick, and relatively inexpensive. In vivo-Small animals provide a multitude of model choices for various human wound conditions. In vitro fibroblast assay, keratinocytes assay can be performed. The wound healing efficacies of various herbal extracts have been evaluated by In vivo- models  excision models, incision models, dead space models, burn modes can be performed on small animals after getting approval from the Ethics committee. In vitro and in vivo assays are stepping stones to well-controlled clinical trials of herbal extracts. Wound healing property can be checked by measuring tensile strength of skin, measurement of wound area, percentage of contraction, collagen content, protein estimation, Period of epithilazation. Key words: In vitro cell assays, excision models, burn wound models, incision models, dead space models