From Inflammation to Current and Alternative Therapies Involved in Wound Healing

Table 1

Herb	Main constituents	Laboratorial and clinical evidence	References
Aloe vera	Soluble sugars, nonstarch polysaccharides, lignin, polysaccharides, glycoproteins, and antiseptic agents	Anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities; stimulates cell proliferation, collagen synthesis, and angiogenesis; promotes wound contraction	[184–187]
Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn)	Flavonoids (e.g., quercetin, isorhamnetin), carotenoids (e.g., a-, b-carotene, lycopene), vitamins (C, E, K), tannins, organic acids, triterpenes, glycerides of palmitic, stearic, oleic acids, and amino acids	Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities; stimulates the healing process; improves wound contraction and epithelialization; increases the hydroxyproline and protein content in the wound	[188, 189]
Angelica sinensis	Essential oils and water-soluble ingredients; ferulic acid is the main active constituent	Stimulates the proliferation of human skin fibroblasts, the secretion of collagen, and the expression of TGF-β in vitro	[190]
Catharanthus roseus (Vinca rosea)	Contains two major classes of active compounds: alkaloids (e.g., vincamine) and tannins	Antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus; increases wound strength, epithelialization, and wound contraction	[191]
Calendula officinalis (marigold)	Triterpenoids and flavonoids	Anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities; stimulates the proliferation and migration of fibroblasts in vitro; stimulates the collagen production and angiogenesis	[192–194]
Sesamum indicum	Sesamol is the main antioxidant constituent; others include sesamolin and sesaminol	Improves the wound tensile strength, wound contraction, and the hydroxyproline levels in both normal and delayed wound models in rats	[195]
Morinda citrifolia (noni)	Acids, alcohols, phenols, esters, anthraquinones, sterols, flavonoids, triterpenoids, saccharides, carotenoids, esters, ketones, lactones, lignans, and nucleosides	Improves the hydroxyproline content and reduces both the wound area and the epithelialization time in excision wounds in rats	[196, 197]
Camellia sinensis	Polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins, caffeine, and amino acids	Reduces the healing time and the wound length of incision wounds created in Wistar rats	[198, 199]
Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary)	Most bioactive constituents include terpenoids and polyphenols, such as carnosol, carnosic acid, and rosmarinic acid	Reduces the inflammation and improves the wound contraction, reepithelialization, angiogenesis, and collagen deposition on full-thickness wounds in diabetic mice	[200]