The Effect of Hypericum Perforatum (St. John's wort) on Diabetic Wounds: An Experimental Study

As a common plant in our country, St. John's wort (Hypericum Perforatum) is traditionaly prepared as an oily extract and used as a folk remedy for various diseases. Diabetes is chosen to be a sample of problematic wounds. Incisional and excisional wound models were made on dorsal region of 54 Spraque-Dawley rats which were divided into 6 groups. Hypericum perforatum and olive oil were administered seperately to oral groups and were applied as a thin layer on wounds to the topical groups for 21 days. A total of 9 parameters (inflammation, fibroblastic activity, collagen density, angiogenesis on days 7 and 21, epitelialization, hidroxyproline, tensile strength, contraction rate) were researched on biopies taken from incisional and excisional wounds. According to tensile strength and tissue hydroxyproline concentrations, oral and topical hypericum perforatum groups were significantly higher compared to the diabetic group (p<0,05). Inflammatory cell density in day 3 and collagen density in day 3 was significantly higher in oral hypericum perforatum and in topical olive oil compared with the diabetic group (p<0,05). In day 21, oral hypericum and topical olive oil had significantly higher fibroblastic activity (p<0,001). This study has proved that oral hypericum perforatum has more positive effects on problematic wounds compared with topical hypericum perforatum and olive oil which is the vehicle of oleum hypericum perforatum. These results could be an addition to the literature about the clinical usage of hypericum perforatum on diabetic wounds.