Natural
plant extract, namely acemannan (Ac) and curcumin (Cur),
coencapsulated pluronic micelles, showing thermoresponsive properties,
were designed for efficient and safe in vivo wound
healing applications. Ac and Cur, widely used antimicrobials, find
limited applications because of their low stability, short biological
half-life, poor solubility, and low bioavailability. Herein, we report
the extraction of Ac from aloe vera and coencapsulation of it with
Cur in pluronic micelles to take advantage of the combined effects
of both components. Both Ac and Cur preserved their bioactive functionality
upon encapsulation. Single photon emission computed tomography imaging
confirmed that NPAcC2 hydrogel masked the whole wound by forming a
layer. Cur and Ac synergistically resulted in rapid wound closure
on the seventh day, and full-grown hair was observed on the 10th day.
Individually they both take more than 20 days for wound closure. The
increase in the concentration of curcumin increases the healing properties
of the material. For days 1, 6, and 10 of the wound dressing experiment,
the percentages of wound closure of the mice were the highest for
NPAcC2 (i.e., 100%) compared to the untreated control (25%) while
maintaining the integrity of the skin. These natural product-based
hydrogels have limited side effects vs those caused by commercial
drugs in wound healing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.