Objectives

Glehnia littoralis (Umbelliferae) is a traditional medicine used in Korea, China, and Japan to treat the immune related
 diseases. However, its anti-bacterial and wound healing activities remain to be defined. In this present study, the hydrogel wound dressing was made using G. littoralis extract (GLE), which have been proven to have strong antimicrobial activity, and their wound healing efficacy was investigated through rat clinical experiment.


Methods

1. In Vitro study of antimicrobial reagents

GLE compounds were prepared according to the recipe reported in the previous literature. Cytotoxicities of the treated fibroblast cells were observed by MTT assay.

2. In Vivo study

A total of 18 male Sprague Dawley rats enrolled. After rats' back skin wounded by contact burn, the hydrogel wound dressing was made using GLE, which have been proven to have strong antimicrobial activity especially against S. epidermidis, and their wound healing efficacy was investigated through visual and histopathologic finding.


Results

In vitro cytotoxicity tests showed that the developed GLE-PVA:PET hydrogel was non-cytotoxic. Antibacterial activity tests revealed that the antibacterial activity of GLE in the hydrogel did show a significant difference compared with that of the control hydrogel. Furthermore, in vivo wound healing tests showed that the rate of wound healing was greatly elevated with the rapid re-epithelialization in the GLE-PVA:PET hydrogel group.


Conclusion

The results obtained showed that GLE-PVA:PET hydrogel has good wound healing and antibacterial properties. These findings validate the use of this plant in the medical field for the treatment of wounds.

3 - Evaluation of Glehnia littoralis extract Loaded Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Pectin Hydrogel for Wound Healing