Comparative investigation of Moringa oleifera and Tagetes erecta hydrogels for enhancing cutaneous wound healing in rats

When rats with standardised skin wounds were treated with a hydrogel made from Moringa oleifera leaf extract, their wounds closed faster and showed less fluid leakage than wounds treated with either a marigold (Tagetes erecta) hydrogel or a plain saline control. Wound healing is a tightly coordinated biological process — the body must stop bleeding, fight infection, rebuild tissue, and remodel the new skin in sequence. Disrupting any stage slows recovery. Herbal formulations are attracting research interest because they may support these stages with fewer side effects than synthetic drugs. In this experiment, researchers created identical 2×2 cm full-thickness wounds on the backs of 36 adult Wistar rats and applied one of three treatments: normal saline, a 10% Moringa oleifera hydrogel, or a 10% Tagetes erecta hydrogel. A hydrogel is a water-based gel carrier that keeps a wound moist while delivering active compounds directly to the tissue. The team tracked visible signs of healing — how much fluid the wound produced, how quickly the wound edges drew together, and whether the animals showed signs of distress — alongside blood markers including haemoglobin levels and white blood cell counts. Both herbal hydrogels outperformed the saline control, but moringa pulled ahead of marigold on wound contraction speed, exudate reduction, and blood parameter stability. The findings matter because they provide early comparative evidence that a moringa-based topical formulation may be more effective than a commonly used medicinal flower extract, pointing toward potential development of plant-based wound-care products.