Abstract

Wound healing effects of cactus extracts (CEs) were studied in this work. The aqueous extract (CAE) and ethanolic extract (CEE) each showed a slight to moderate wound healing effect on second-degree superficial burned mice. However, a combination of CAE and CEE (CME) showed great healing efficacy. At 25% concentration (w/w), CE produced highly efficient healing. The wound healing time for mice treated with CE, especially with CME, was shortened with statistical significance (p<0.05) relative to control mice. Granulation tissues of wounded mice treated with CE grew much better than that of wounded mice without CE treatment. Stimulation by CEs can produce relatively more blood vessels and fibroblasts at the injury sites. In addition, CE was revealed to promote blood vessel angiogenesis by up-regulating expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The combination of cactus CAE and CEE shows a substantial synergistic wound healing effect for second-degree burned mice. The current work also provides novel information regarding the effect of CE on accelerating the tissue-repair and wound-healing processes in vivothrough regulation of VEGF.

Key words: Cactus extract, second-degree burn, wound healing, VEGF