FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF TOPICAL EMULGEL CONTAINING ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF Piper betle Linn. LEAF FOR WOUND HEALING

Harshith Kumar M. S.*, Parthasarathi K. Kulkarni, Tanuja A. J., Venkatesh K., Hanumanthachar Joshi

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to develop and evaluate a topical emulgel formulated with the ethanolic extract of Piper betle Linn. leaves for wound-healing purposes. The extract was obtained through Soxhlet extraction using ethanol, producing a semi-solid mass abundant in phytoconstituents. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, alkaloids, glycosides, terpenes, steroids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and phenolic compounds. Preformulation studies indicated favourable organoleptic characteristics, good solubility in ethanol, methanol, DMSO, and coconut oil, and a λmax of 272 nm. FTIR analysis confirmed that the functional groups remained intact, showing no chemical degradation after incorporation into the emulgel base. Coconut oil served as the oil phase, while a combination of Tween 80 and Span 80 was optimized to achieve a stable emulsion. Six emulgel formulations were prepared by varying the concentration of Carbopol 940, among which formulation F4 was selected as the optimized batch based on physicochemical evaluations. F4 displayed a pale-yellow creamy texture, excellent homogeneity, absence of phase separation, uniform globule distribution, high drug content (98.2%), a skin-friendly pH (5.70), good spreadability (8.67 g•cm/sec), and appropriate viscosity (14,150 cP). In vitro release studies demonstrated a sustained release pattern, with 92.3% of the drug released over 8 hours. The wound-healing potential was assessed using the excision wound model in Wistar rats. The optimized emulgel exhibited a significant improvement in wound contraction (63% by Day 9) and achieved complete closure by Day 15. In comparison, the crude Piper betle Linn. extract showed 98.5% closure by Day 18, while the standard drug (povidone-iodine 5% w/w) reached 100% closure by Day 18. Overall, the results indicate that incorporating Piper betle Linn. extract into an emulgel base significantly enhances its wound-healing performance, confirming its potential as a stable, safe, and effective herbal formulation for topical wound care.

Keywords: Piper betle Linn., ethanolic extract, emulgel, Carbopol 940, excision wound model, wound healing.