METHODS: This was a comparative case-control study done on patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM), requiring split-thickness skin grafting, whereby, the skin graft donor site was divided to almost equal halves, and applied with both gamat-based gel on one side, with Duoderm® hydrogel on the other side. The epithelialization of the wounds was observed and compared on days 10, 14 and 21. Pain score, and pruritus score were also observed. Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and Paired t-test was used to test statistical significance accordingly.
RESULTS: No significant differences were seen in rates of epithelialization of wounds on days 10, 14 and 21 (p > 0.01). No significant difference was also seen in the pain score and pruritus score (p > 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: A gamat-based gel is comparable to conventional hydrogels in treatment of split-skin graft donor site. No adverse effects were observed in either group.
METHODS: Stromal derived corneal fibroblasts from New Zealand White rabbit (n = 6) were isolated and cultured until passage 1. In vitro corneal ulcer was created using a 4 mm corneal trephine onto confluent cultures and treated with basal medium (FD), medium containing serum (FDS), with and without 0.025 % AH. Wound areas were recorded at day 0, 3 and 6 post wound creation. Genes and proteins associated with wound healing and differentiation such as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen type I, lumican and matrix metalloproteinase 12 (MMP12) were evaluated using qRT-PCR and immunocytochemistry respectively.
RESULTS: Cells cultured with AH-enriched FDS media achieved complete wound closure at day 6 post wound creation. The cells cultured in AH-enriched FDS media increased the expression of vimentin, collagen type I and lumican genes and decreased the ALDH, α-SMA and MMP12 gene expressions. Protein expression of ALDH, vimentin and α-SMA were in accordance with the gene expression analyses.
CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated AH accelerate corneal fibroblasts migration and differentiation of the in vitro corneal ulcer model while increasing the genes and proteins associated with stromal wound healing.
OBJECTIVE: To identify the bioactive proteins and evaluate their ability in cell proliferation and angiogenesis promotion.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Freeze-Dried Water Extracts (FDWE) and Spray-Dried Water Extracts (SDWE) of C. striata were tested with MTT assay using EA.hy926 endothelial cell line and ex-vivo aortic ring assay. Later the proteins were fractionated and analysed using an LC-QTOF mass spectrometer. The data generated were matched with human gene database for protein similarity and pathway identification.
RESULTS: Both samples have shown positive cell proliferation and pro-angiogenic activity. Four essential proteins/genes were identified, which are collagen type XI, actin 1, myosin light chain and myosin heavy chain. The pathways discovered that related to these proteins are integrin pathway, Slit-Robo signalling pathway and immune response C-C Chemokine Receptor-3 signalling pathway in eosinophils, which contribute towards wound healing mechanism.
CONCLUSIONS: The results presented have demonstrated that C. striata FDWE and SDWE protein fractions contain bioactive proteins that are highly similar to human proteins and thus could be involved in the wound healing process via specific biological pathways.