Effects of naphthoquinones from the roots of Onosma armeniacum Klokov on wound healing

Abstract In Turkish folk medicine, the roots of Onosma armeniacum Klokov are used to heal wounds, burns, hemorrhoids, hoarseness, dyspnea, stomach ulcers, and abdominal aches. The objective was to evaluate the plant‘s ethnopharmacological applications using in vivo pharmacological experimental models. In vivo linear incision and circular excision the wound models were used to assess the wound healing activity along with histopathological investigation. The active component(s) were isolated and identified after being exposed to several chromatographic separation procedures on the primary extract. The n ‐hexane‐dichloromethane mixture extract was subjected to chromatographic separation after the wound‐healing activity was confirmed. Deoxyshikonin ( 1 ), β , β ‐dimethylacrylshikonin ( 2 ), α ‐methyl‐ n ‐butylshikonin ( 3 ), isovalerylshikonin ( 4 ), acetylshikonin ( 5 ), β ‐hydroxyisovalerylshikonin ( 6 ), and 5,8‐ O ‐dimethylacetylshikonin ( 7 ) were identified as the structures of the isolated compounds. The efficacy of O. armeniacum to heal wounds was investigated in this study. Shikonin derivatives were identified as the primary active components of the roots by bioassay‐guided fractionation and isolation procedures.