Spider web ointment: A traditional based approach in Cutaneous wound healing

Spider web is being used in India and other countries to promote wound healing. Its ointment at 2.5 and 5% w/w concentrations was tested for wound healing activity in excision and incision wound models in rats. A significant reduction in the area of excision wound was observed for both the treatments when compared to normal healing and control ointment treatments. The period of epithelization for spider web treatments was much lower than the standard povidone iodine ointment and significant when compared to normal and control ointment treatments. In the linear incision wound model, spider web ointment at 2.5% w/w showed 30.65% increase in the tensile strength compared to normal healing. The histological evaluation revealed that the spider web ointment lowers scores in terms of scab, ulcus, polymorphonuclear cells and high scores of re-epithelization and neovascularization when compared to normal healing group. Both the concentration of spider web ointment (2.5% and 5% w/w) exhibited similar wound healing activity. Therefore, the optimum effective dose of spider web ointment is 2.5% w/w concentration. The wound healing activity may be due to increase in collagen synthesis and probably due to the presence of proteins in the web. The present study provides a scientific base for the traditional use of spider web for wound healing.