Evaluation of oral administration of Calendula officinalis among the centesimal potencies in acute wound healing in male wistar rats

Abstract

Background: Calendula o cinalis (Calendula) is used in Homoeopathy to treat various wounds. The presence of bioactive compounds results in pharmacological properties like wound healing, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties. Hence, clinicians use different centesimal potencies (6C, 30C, 200C) to heal wounds. Objective: To compare the wound-healing potential of Calendula dilutions (6C, 30C, 200C) through oral administration in a pre-clinical acute wound model. Materials and Methods: The study involved administering Calendula centesimal potencies (6C, 30C, 200C) orally. Male wistar rats aged eight to ten weeks were involved in the experiment. Every animal had full-thickness excisional wound created on its back and assigned into four groups: vehicle control (VC) group and three treatment groups receiving oral doses of dispensing alcohol, Calendula 6C, Calendula 30C, and Calendula 200C, respectively. Each animal received treatment twice daily for seven days, with six-hour interval between doses. Wound photographs, taken at regular intervals, were used to observe the rate of wound closure. Animals were sacrificed on 8th and 14th days to collect samples for histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Results: Analysis of variance assessed the statistical significance of the group differences. The study showed that wound healing was significantly higher in Calendula-treated groups than in VC. The results indicate that wound closure, epidermal thickness, collagen deposition, and the proliferative marker antigen Kiel-67 (Ki-67) expression levels were significantly higher (p<0.01) in the Calendula 30C-treated group compared with other groups. Conclusion: Among the Calendula centesimal potencies tested for wound contraction, 30C proved to be the most effective for wound healing.