Aesculus hippocastanum L. Extract Does Not Induce Fibroblast to Myofibroblast Conversion but Increases Extracellular Matrix Production In Vitro Leading to Increased Wound Tensile Strength in Rats

Abstract

The ability of horse chestnut extract (HCE) to induce contraction force in fibroblasts, a process with remarkable significance in skin repair, motivated us to evaluate its wound healing potential in a series of experiments. In the in vitro study of the ability of human dermal fibroblasts to form myofibroblast-like cells was evaluated at the protein level (Western blot and immunofluorescence). The in vivo study was conducted on male Sprague-Dawley rats with inflicted wounds (one open circular and one sutured incision) on their backs. Rats were topically treated with two tested HCE concentrations (0.1% and 1%) or sterile water. The control group remained untreated. The incisions were processed for wound tensile strength (TS) measurement whereas the open wounds were subjected to histological examination. On the in vitro level the HCE extract induced fibronectin-rich extracellular matrix formation, but did not induced α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) expression in dermal fibroblasts. The animal study revealed that HCE increased wound TS and improved collagen organization. In conclusion, the direct comparison of both basic wound models demonstrated that the healing was significantly increased following HCE, thus this extract may be found useful to improve healing of acute wounds. Nevertheless, the use of an experimental rat model warrants a direct extrapolation to the human clinical situation.

An Updated Etiology of Hair Loss and the New Cosmeceutical Paradigm in Therapy: Clearing ‘the Big Eight Strikes’

“…This modulates collagen formation to avoid fibrotic overgrowth. There are plant extracts that are known to do this, such as the saponin mixture called escin (or aescin) from the chestnut of Aesculus hippocastanum (horse chestnut tree) [168], which is a well-known therapy for skin diseases, controlling the modulation of dermal cells to facilitate normal tissue formation, especially in the context of angiogenesis [169,170].…”

Phytochemical screening and in vitro assessments of antioxidant and cytotoxic potentials of extracts from Aesculus hippocastanum L. green fruit mesocarps

“…Amino acids, allantoin, argyrin, carotin, choline, citric acid, epicatechin, leucodelphinidin, phytosterol, resin, scopoletin, tannin, and uric acid are among the other ingredients. Horse chestnut extract has also been shown to have antioxidant effects (Braga et al, 2012;Vaskova et al, 2015;Kováˇc et al, 2020;Owczarek et al, 2021) and produce contraction force in fibroblasts, which is important for skin regeneration (Wilkinson & Brown, 1999). Due to these effects, horse chestnut extracts are used in skin products (Thakur et al, 2011).…”