Skin wound healing is a complex physiological event, involving many cellular and molecular components. The event of
wound healing is the coordinated overlap of a number of distinct phases, namely haemostasis, inflammatory, proliferative
and remodelling. The molecular events surrounding wound healing, particularly the reepithelialisation, has been reported
to be similar to the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). In this review, the mechanism between epithelialisation
and EMT were compared. Both are characterised by the loss of epithelial integrity and increased motility. In terms of
the signalling kinases, Smad and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) has been reported to be involved in both
reepithelialisation and EMT. At the transcriptional level, SLUG transcription factor has been reported to be important for
both reepithelialisation and EMT. Extracellular matrix proteins that have been associated with both events are collagen
and laminin. Lastly, both events required the interplay between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and its inhibitor. As a
conclusion, both reepithelialisation and EMT shares similar signaling cascade and transcriptional regulation to exhibit
decreased epithelial traits and increased motility in keratinocytes.
Although electrospun poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) may mimic structural features of extracellular matrix, its highly
hydrophobic nature causes reduced cell attachment. This study analysed the physicochemical and structural changes
of the surface modified PMMA nanofiber. The electrospun PMMA nanofibers (PM) were surface-treated as follows: PM
alone, collagen coated-PM (PM-C), UV-irradiated PM (PM-UV), collagen coated UV-irradiated PM (PM-C-UV) and collagen
coated-PM crosslinked with genipin (PM-C-GEN). They were subjected to scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform
infrared (FTIR), cell attachment analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy and X-ray
powder diffraction (XRD). The surface roughness was lower in PM-C-UV group compared to others. Based on FTIR
results, all expected functional group were present in all groups. XPS result showed that there are changes in the mass
concentration of UV-treated surfaces and in the collagen coated surfaces. All PM groups showed amorphous nature through
XRD. UV irradiation and collagen coating were shown to increase PM’s functional groups and modify its surface, which
contributed to the increased attachment of cells onto the inert PM scaffold. As conclusion, collagen coated UV irradiated
PMMA provided a better surface for cell to attach hence are suitable to be used further as scaffold for in vitro model.
Ficus carica, a native plant to the Middle East and Western Asia, is of high value in folk medicine. The therapeutic potential
of Ficus carica has led to the extensive studies in recent years, focusing on evaluating and validating its pharmacological
effect. The present systematic review summarizes the effectiveness of Ficus carica on promoting bone health focusing on
osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis via mineral contents and RANKL pathway. The search was done with Medline via
Ebscohost, Scopus and Google Scholar databases to obtain relevant articles published between 1946 and December
2016. The main inclusion criteria were research articles published in English that reported effect of Ficus carica on
bone health. The literature search returned 716 potentially relevant articles, whereby 5 met the inclusion criteria. This
systematic review concludes Ficus carica plays an important role in the promotion of bone health and can be a potential
pharmaceutical product in the future.