Experimental Confirmation of the Utility of Nasturtium officinale Used Empirically as Mouth Lesion Repairing Promotor

Abstract

Nasturtium officinale R.Br. (Brassicaceae), "watercress", is an herbal plant widely consumed as food by many cultures. Along with this, it is used in folk medicine to help in treating asthma, bronchitis, hypertension, as well as other diseases. Rural Italian communities have used N. officinale as an adjuvant to cure bovine stomatitis without any scientific evidence that supports its use for such end. This study evaluated the efficacy of N. officinale as an adjuvant on the healing of traumatic ulcers on rat tongue dorsum. Method: In four control-experiment group-pairs (eight animals per group) there were punch induced 0.5 mm lesions on tongue dorsum, to mimic traumatic ulcers. Rats from control groups received saline solution onto lesions daily. Animals from experimental groups received oral solution containing 15% N. officinale ethanolic extract onto lesions. Animals were euthanized at 2, 7, 14, and 21 days after lesion induction. Lesions were qualitatively evaluated by hematoxilin-eosine stain, and quantitatively, by picrosirius red stain under polarized light. Results: There were observed higher deposits of total, immature and mature collagen in experimental groups than its respective control groups after 14 and 21 days. Conclusion: Results revealed that the solution containing 15% N. officinale extract promoted wound healing on rats tongue dorsum with higher collagen deposits.