Purification of antibacterial agents from Tragia involucrata--a popular tribal medicine for wound healing.

Tragia involucrata has been widely used in traditional systems of medicine for a variety of diseases. In the present study, in vitro antibacterial properties of nine different compounds including vinyl hexylether, shellsol, 2,4-dimethyl hexane, 2-methylnonane and 2,6-dimethyl heptane were isolated from the leaf of Tragia involucrata studied against Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris and Staphylococcus aureus using the disc-diffusion method at 50 microg/ml concentrations. The compound vinyl hexylether showed a broad spectrum of activity. The highest activity was found in shellsol (50 microg/ml) against Proteusvulgaris and Staphylococcus aureus. Minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined for the effective compounds (MICs 2.5-40 microg/ml), shellsol and vinyl hexylether showed inhibitory action at the lowest dilution (10 microg/ml) than 2-methylnanone. Shellsol inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus very effectively than the other compounds. These compounds showed bactericidal effects against all the tested bacteria (MBC, 12.25 microg/ml). However, the compound shellsol showed effective killing of wound causing bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus). So, the study was focused on the constituent to evaluate wound healing in rat model. Rats that received 50 microg/kg, b.w. of shellsol showed complete healing after 24 days. Histological examination revealed an increase in the fibroblast, neovascularization, granulation and thickness of scar tissue after the treatment of shellsol as compared to control. The topical application of shellsol did not cause any toxic response on rat skin. Thus, the antibacterial properties of the constituents give some scientific basis to its usage in traditional medicine.