Evaluation of a Herbal Muco-adhesive Gel for Treatment of Oral Submucous Fibrosis in Wistar Rats
Evaluation of a Herbal Muco-adhesive Gel for Treatment of Oral Submucous Fibrosis in Wistar Rats
Iqra Ejaz1, Saima Chaudhry2 and Sarah Ghafoor1*
ABSTRACT
The present study was designed to formulate and investigate the role of an oral muco-adhesive gel, having a novel combination of 1% curcumin and licorice, in an animal model of oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF), as a possible treatment modality. Animal model of OSMF was created by injecting an anti-cancer drug Bleomycin (1mg/mL) into buccal mucosa of animals daily for 8 weeks. The 24 male Wistar rats were equally divided into two groups; six rats (group 1A) were injected with normal saline (control group) while 18 rats (groups 1B, 2A and 2B, experimental groups) were injected with bleomycin. The six rats of control group (1A) and the six rats of experimental group (1B) were sacrificed after week 4 and week 8. Of the remaining 12 experimental rats (groups 2A and 2B), six were treated with muco-adhesive gel with active ingredients (group 2A) while the remaining six rats were treated with muco-adhesive gel with curcumin and licorice (group 2B) which were sacrificed after week 12 and week 16. Buccal tissues were evaluated for histological assessment. There was minimal increase in body weight of animals belonging to groups IB, 2A and 2B along with a decrease in mouth opening as compared to the control group (1A). However, in the OSMF groups, a gain in body weight, improvement in mouth opening and resolution of fibrosis was observed in experimental group (2B) treated with muco-adhesive gel with active ingredients (2B) than the one without it (2A). The findings of our study suggested that curcumin and licorice-based muco-adhesive gel led to improvement of fibrosis in OSMF animals.
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