Development and Optimization of Herbal Hydrogel for Wound Healing Activity

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aimed to formulate and optimize a herbal hydrogel loaded with Azadirachta indica leaf extract (AILE), Moringa oleifera fruit shell extract (MFSE), and Ruellia prostrata leaf extract (RPLE) for enhanced anti-inflammatory and wound healing activity, utilizing natural bioactives in a topical delivery system. Methods: Hydrogels were prepared using Carbopol 940 and Carveol as the gelling agent and penetration enhancer, respectively. A 3² factorial design was employed to evaluate the effect of polymer and enhancer concentrations on key responses including viscosity and drug release at 12 hours. Preformulation studies including solubility (Table 3), FTIR (Figure 2), and DSC (Figure 1) were performed. The optimized batch was selected based on desirability function and validated experimentally (Table 9). The formulation was further evaluated for physicochemical parameters (Tables 4–5), ex vivo permeation (Table 5a), kinetic modeling (Table 6), anti-inflammatory (Tables 10–12), wound healing (Table 13), and stability (Table 14) studies. Results: The optimized batch F6 showed viscosity of 7786 cP and 76.35% drug release at 12 hours with a low prediction error (4.0% and 0.72%, respectively). Ex vivo studies revealed high flux (57.82 µg/cm²/h) and permeability coefficient (5.78 × 10⁻³ cm/h). In vivo studies demonstrated 15.87% and 14.32% inhibition of edema in carrageenan and CFA models, respectively. F3 formulation exhibited synergistic anti-inflammatory effect (75.83%) and significant cell viability (153%) in wound healing assay. The formulation remained stable for 3 months under both storage conditions. Conclusion: The optimized hydrogel formulation exhibited promising anti-inflammatory and wound healing efficacy, supported by permeation and biological data, suggesting strong potential for future clinical translation as a topical herbal therapy.