1-Tetracosanol isolated from the leaves of Eupatorium glandulosum, accelerates wound healing by expressing inflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinase

J Ethnopharmacol. 2023 Oct 28:315:116654. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2023.116654. Epub 2023 May 22.

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The leave paste of the plant, Eupatorium glandulosum H. B & K, has been traditionally used to treat cuts and wounds by the tribal community of the Nilgiris district of Tamilnadu, India.

Aim of the study: The present study was carried out to investigate the wound healing potential of this plant extract and the compound, 1-Tetracosanol, isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction.

Materials and methods: An in vitro study was designed to compare the viability, migration and apoptosis of the fresh methanolic extract fractions and 1-Tetracosanol using mouse fibroblast NIH3T3 cell lines and human keratinocytes HaCaT cell lines, respectively. 1-Tetracosanol was evaluated for its viability, migration, qPCR analysis, in silico, in vitro and in vivo.

Results: 1-Tetracosanol at the concentration of 800, 1600, 3200 μM has significant wound closure of 99% at 24 h. The compound when screened in silico against various wound healing markers, TNF-α, IL-12, IL-18, GM-CSF and MMP-9, revealed high binding energy of -5, 4.9 and -6.4 kcal/mol for TNF-α, IL-18 and MMP-9, respectively. Gene expression and the release of cytokines increased at an early stage of the wound repair. 1-Tetracosanol, at 2% gel showed 97.35 ± 2.06% wound closure at 21st day.

Conclusion: 1-Tetracosanol is a good lead for drug development targeted towards wound healing activity and work in this direction is in progress.

Keywords: 1-Tetracosanol; Cell viability; Eupatorium glandulosum; IL-18: Interleukin-18; MMP-9: Matrix metalloproteinase-9; Tnf-α: Tumour necrosis factor-alpha; Wound closure; Wound healing; re-epithelialization.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cytokines* / metabolism
  • Eupatorium*
  • Humans
  • Interleukin-18 / analysis
  • Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 / genetics
  • Matrix Metalloproteinases
  • Mice
  • NIH 3T3 Cells
  • Plant Leaves / chemistry
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / analysis
  • Wound Healing

Substances

  • Cytokines
  • Interleukin-18
  • Matrix Metalloproteinase 9
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
  • Matrix Metalloproteinases