WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY OF N-HEXANE AND METHANOL EXTRACTS OF TETRACARPIDIUM CONOPHORUM (MULL. ARG.) HUTCH (AFRICAN WALNUT) IN WISTAR RATS

The African walnut is used in Nigerian folkloric medicine for the treatment of bacterial infections and ailments caused by oxidative stress. The n-hexane and methanol extracts of cooked African walnut Tetracarpidium conophorum (Mull. Arg.) were investigated to evaluate the rate of wound healing in Wistar rats. Treatment of wounds with placebo (5%, 10% T. conophorum extracts or gentamicin) significantly (p=0.05) showed accelerated rate of healing compared with that of the pure ointment. When compared to the standard group, the percentage of wound contraction on day 4 was significant for the 10% n-hexane group, while no significant (p=0.05) difference was observed in the wound contraction activity of the other groups before the 16th day. The percentages of mean wound contraction on day 18 were 69.18%, 84.14%, 90.60%, 88.36%, 96.50% and 98.09%, respectively, for the negative control, 5% n-hexane, 10% n-hexane, 5% methanol, 10% methanol and gentamicin, respectively. The present study thus establishes the dose-dependent wound healing activity of extracts of the T. conophorum nut, most likely due to their inherent antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities.