Traditional Therapies for Skin Wound Healing

Abstract

The regeneration of healthy and functional skin remains a huge challenge due to its multilayer structure and the presence of different cell types within the extracellular matrix in an organized way. Despite recent advances in wound care products, traditional therapies based on natural origin compounds, such as plant extracts, honey, and larvae, are interesting alternatives. These therapies offer new possibilities for the treatment of skin diseases, enhancing the access to the healthcare, and allowing overcoming some limitations associated to the modern products and therapies, such as the high costs, the long manufacturing times, and the increase in the bacterial resistance. This article gives a general overview about the recent advances in traditional therapies for skin wound healing, focusing on the therapeutic activity, action mechanisms, and clinical trials of the most commonly used natural compounds. New insights in the combination of traditional products with modern treatments and future challenges in the field are also highlighted. Natural compounds have been used in skin wound care for many years due to their therapeutic activities, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and cell-stimulating properties. The clinical efficacy of these compounds has been investigated through and trials using both animal models and humans. Besides the important progress regarding the development of novelextraction methods, purification procedures, quality control assessment, and treatment protocols, the exact mechanisms of action, side effects, and safety of these compounds need further research. The repair of skin lesions is one of the most complex biological processes in humans, occurring throughout an orchestrated cascade of overlapping biochemical and cellular events. To stimulate the regeneration process and prevent the wound to fail the healing, traditional therapies and natural products have been used with promising results. Although these products are in general less expensive than the modern treatments, they can be sensitive to the geographic location and season, and exhibit batch-to-batch variation, which can lead to unexpected allergic reactions, side effects, and contradictory clinical results. The scientific evidence for the use of traditional therapies in wound healing indicates beneficial effects in the treatment of different lesions. However, specific challenges remain unsolved. To extend the efficacy and the usage of natural substances in wound care, multidisciplinary efforts are necessary to prove the safety of these products, investigate their side effects, and develop standard controlled trials. The development of good manufacturing practices and regulatory legislation also assume a pivotal role in order to improve the use of traditional therapies by the clinicians and to promote their integration into the national health system. Current trends move to the development of innovative wound care treatments, combining the use of traditional healing agents and modern products/practices, such as nanofibers ...

The Role of Pomelo Peel Extract for Experimentally Induced Wound in Diabetic Rats

“…Some plants with proven wound healing action such as Aloe vera, Calendula officinalis, Portulaca oleracea and Citrus sinensis. 6 Pomelo (Citrus maxima) is considered the largest citrus fruit belongs to the genus Citrus (familyRuta ceae). The fruit originated from South East Asia, commonly named shaddock in the western world.…”

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. Plants and plant-based preparations for facial care in Suriname

“…For instance, despite some supporting evidence for wound healingpromoting activity of A. vera, "there is a need for high-level evidence and further large, randomized control trials to support the use of A. veraderived products as topical agents or incorporated within dressings for the treatment of skin lesions" [206]. Products from E. olearacea are among the most popular functional foods and cosmetics/cosmeceuticals throughout the world, but the scientific evidence to support their many claims of health benefits is insufficient [121].…”

Advances in bioprinted cell-laden hydrogels for skin tissue engineering

“…Traditional treatments are based on the use of grafts (which includes auto-, allo-and xenograft varieties), herbal and animalderived compounds, silver-containing and traditional dressings. These therapies have been used since ancient times mainly due to their clinical efficacy, simplicity and affordability, offering a broad range of therapeutic effects, such as anti-inflammatory, cell stimulatory, antimicrobial, and wound debridement [98,99,145,159,179,181]. However, in certain types of skin wounds, such as deep burns and chronic wounds, more sophisticated and effective treatments are usually needed [20,50,87,212].…”