Does Astragalus mongholicus Bunge help promote the healing of wounds? A systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical animal studies

Background: Bunge in animal wound models to propel future studies towards definitive preclinical and initial clinical trials. Methods: Bunge to placebo or a "no treatment" arm in animal models of skin wounds. Two authors independently assessed the risk of bias of the included studies using the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) tool for preclinical animal studies and extracted relevant information according to a predesigned extraction form. Random effects models were used to estimate the pooled effect and the data were analyzed using R software. Results: Bunge treatment group exhibited a positive effect in enhancing angiogenesis, facilitating collagen deposition, and diminishing pro-inflammatory factors. Meantime, no harmful events were reported. Conclusion: Bunge presented positive effects on the process of wound healing in experimental models used, demonstrating the huge potential of this botanical drug for wound treatments. More studies with comparable study protocols should be performed to validate the results of the present systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic review registration: This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420250641262).