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Topical application is an important administration route for drugs requiring local action on the skin, thereby avoiding their systemic absorption and adverse side effects. Rosmarinus officinalis L. (syn. Salvia rosmarinus Spenn.), popularly known as rosemary, is an aromatic plant with needle-like leaves belonging to the Lamiaceae family. Rosemary has therapeutic properties and has been used in the folk medicine, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries, mainly for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which are attributed to the presence of carnosol/carnosic and ursolic acids. The therapeutic use of rosemary has been explored for the treatment of inflammatory diseases; however, other uses have been studied, such as wound healing and skin cancer and mycoses treatments, among others. Besides it therapeutic uses, rosemary has potential applications in cosmetic formulations and in the treatment of pathological and non-pathological conditions, such as cellulite, alopecia, ultraviolet damage, and aging. This review aims to critically discuss the topical applications of rosemary found in the literature while also offering relevant information for the development of topical formulations of its bioactive compounds.

ResumoO alecrim, uma planta usada popularmente, contém compostos bioativos com notada capacidade antioxidante, como o ácido carnósico e o ácido rosmarínico. Quatro métodos de extração foram avaliados quanto à eficiência na extração dos compostos antioxidantes e sua ação no ensaio de cicatrização scratch. Dentre os métodos utilizados, a maceração se mostrou a mais eficiente na extração dos compostos antioxidantes. Os extratos apresentaram atividade antioxidante e não apresentaram citotoxicidade significativa, porém o extrato obtido pelo método maceração, testado no cicatrização in vitro, não acelerou o processo de cicatrização nas condições testadas.

Nitric oxide (NO) plays fundamental roles in wound healing and is endogenously transported by S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). In the present work, we incorporated GSNO in hydrogel membranes comprised of poly(acrylic acid)/Pluronic F127 (PAAc/F127/GSNO), with the purpose of delivering NO topically to accelerate wound healing. Chemiluminescence measurements showed that dry PAAc/F127/GSNO membranes undergo slow hydration with concomitant NO release over more than 9 days. Topical application of the GSNO/PAAc/F127 membranes in an animal wound healing model led to decreased inflammation and increased collagen deposition and organization in the cicatricial tissue, after 21 days. These results point to a potential medical application of these membranes for accelerating wound healing.

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