Promoting wound healing using indian costus

The plant Saussurea lappa (costus) was used in the traditional medicine to treat wounds. Although, there are no scientific reports on wound healing activity of Saussurea lappa in the literature, the present study was suggested to evaluate its scientific validity. This investigation was undertaken to determine the efficacy of Saussurea lappa on wound healing. This study used the roots of Saussurea lappa to evaluate wound healing activity using tissue culture model as in vitro and excision wound model in rats as in vivo. The in vitro results showed that Saussurea lappa increase proliferation of fibroblasts and thus accelerate wound healing. Application of Saussurea lappa to a wound performed in rats showed that the healing process was faster than control group with out appearance of any infection.As conclusion, Saussurea lappa may be reveal as safe and effective topical medicine for accelerating wound healing.