Wound Healing Activity of Total Alkaloidal Extract of the Root Bark of Alstonia boonei (Apocynacea)

Aims: Screening total alkaloidal extract from Alstonia boonei root bark for antimicrobial and wound healing activity.
Methodology: The anti-microbial screening was performed using the agar well diffusion method and the excision wound model was employed for the wound healing experiment.
Results: Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) of the extract showed four (4) spots when glacial acetic acid, ethyl acetate and chloroform were used in the ratio 1:3:1 respectively. However, six (6) spots were observed when ethyl acetate, methanol and water were used in the ratio 15:3:2 respectively. The total alkaloid extract showed antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa and E. coli. The extract also showed significant wound healing activity (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The TLC showed that the total alkaloid extract contains several individual chemical compounds. The alkaloid extract has good antimicrobial activity against the above listed microorganisms at concentrations of 1% (10mg/ml) and above. The total alkaloid extract of Alstonia boonei possesses significant wound healing activity which was evident by the increased rate of wound contraction and reduction in the period of epithelialization.