Use of Medicinal Plants in the Process of Wound Healing: A Literature Review

Abstract

The literature on the use of medicinal plants in wound healing was comprehensively searched to obtain and assess the data. The data were procured via clinical studies that utilized medicinal plants and their compounds in vitro and in vivo for wound healing. This review collected data from electronic databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, SciFinder, Thesis, and Scopus, using the search terms "natural products", "wound healing", and "natural compounds", along with the keywords "plants", "extracts", and "phytochemicals". Results from the last decade reveal a total of 62 families and 109 genera of medicinal plants, and their compounds have been studied experimentally both in vivo and in vitro and clinically found to effectively promote healing. This activity is related to the presence of secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, terpenoids, and phenolic compounds, which act at different stages through different mechanisms to exert anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant effects, confirming that the use of medicinal plants could be an adequate alternative to current conventional practices for treating wounds.

Keywords: healing; medicinal plants; phytotherapy; plant extracts; secondary metabolites; treatments.

Figure 1

Wound-healing stages.

Figure 2

Secondary metabolites.

Figure 3

Selective solvents and groups of metabolites.

Figure 4

General structure of phenolic acids.

Figure 5

Other phenolic compounds.

Figure 6

Hydrolysable and condensed tannins.

Figure 7

Most widely studied flavonoids.

Figure 8

Prenylated flavonoids.