an investigation into the antibacterial activities of medicinal plants ...

Further testing on the plant extracts could be done on anti-inflammatory activity,
antifungal activity, toxicity studies, anti-ageing effects and its effect on keritinocytes of
the skin to assess the full spectrum of the skin and the benefits of these plant
extracts. Some medicinal plants such as Centella asiatica have wound-healing
properties and assist in retracting the wound by facilitating the development of
normal connective tissue.
Medicinal plants used for treating burn wounds, abscesses and boils, may contain
analgesic activity that assist in alleviating the pain (Van Wyk & Gericke, 2000). In
vivo testing of the different plant extracts done on rats may be helpful in assessing
the wound healing properties of the plants such as increasing the tissue
keratinisation. The high antibacterial activity against a wide range of pathogens in
this study makes M. major a promising plant for further investigation into the woundhealing
properties and the above-mentioned studies.
The medicinal plants selected in this study may have additional properties that are
beneficial to the skin when treating wound infections such as wound-healing
properties and pain relief. The ethnobotanical approach to selecting plants for
scientific investigation is substantiated as the traditional uses of these plants in
treating bacterial wound infections are justified.
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