In vitro Proliferation and Wound Healing Effects of Narcissus tazetta L. Bulb on Primary Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Aims: Narcissus tazetta L. bulbs have been used in Traditional Persian medicine (TPM), as "Zaroor" for wound healing. Toward quality assurance of the plant, pharmacognostic and phytochemical studies, physicochemical characterization, and healing effects of "Zaroor" were studied.

Study Design: Original Research Article.

Place and Duration of Study: The study took place in herbal and traditional medicines research center at Faculty of Pharmacy and stem cell research center at Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences of Kerman, Iran from March 2016 to September 2017.

Methodology: Total flavonoid content (TFC) of the plant was measured and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprint profiling was planned for qualitative assessment of the plant with reference to rutin as the marker compound. Antioxidant activity was studied using DPPH and FRAP assay. Proliferation and wound healing effect of the plant was evaluated on the primary human dermal fibroblast by neutral red and scratch assay.

Results: The pharmacognostic studies and physicochemical characteristics indicated characters, which are of diagnostic value for plant standardization and quality control. HPTLC chromatogram of the plant extract confirmed the presence of rutin in comparison to Rf value of the standard. Maximum inhibition of DPPH radical and IC50 value was estimated at 10000 µg/ml (99.89%) and 2379.82±37.59 µg/ml respectively. In FRAP test, the antioxidant value was estimated 0.29±0.02 mM/mg SO4Fe. Plant extract exhibited no significant effects on cell proliferation in HDF cells after 48 hr treatment using neutral red assay. The greatest reduction in gap width was considered after 48 hr at 1.562- 6.25 µg/ml. This activity was significantly different from untreated cells as a control (p<0.01).

Conclusion: N. tazetta would be effective for wound healing through different mechanisms such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, which needs to be studied in more details.