Identification of a novel collagen-like peptide by high-throughput screening for effective wound-healing therapy

Decoding the mechanism of earthworm extract against wounds: an integrated metabolomics and network pharmacology study

Earthworms are used to cure wounds in Chinese villages for thousands of years. Recently, scientists realized their extracts could promote wound healing and they have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-apoptosis, and anti-microbial properties, but its mechanism of promoting wound healing remains unclear. In the presented study, electronic literature databases and LC-MS/MS were used to determine earthworms' ingredients and differential metabolites. Swiss Target Prediction database was used for ingredients' target prediction and wound disease-relevant genes were found from GeneCards, OMIM, and DrugBank databases. Network pharmacology was conducted to demonstrate filtering hub targets, biological functions, and the signaling pathways of earthworms extract against wounds. Molecular docking and metabolism analysis were used to look for core target genes and key bioactive molecules from earthworms. Finally, the investigation shows 5 most important signal pathways, 5 core genes, and 6 bioactive ingredients-related cell-cell adhesion, cell proliferation, and cell migration processes could be affected by earthworms' extract. On 3rd day, the extract could regulate HIF1A and EGFR targets to make the differences of quantities of 4-pyridoxate, tetradecanoic acid, and L-kynurenine. While on 7th day, the regulation refers 6 earthworms' bioactive ingredients, 4 core genes (CTNNB1, EGFR, SRC, and CASP3), and 4 differential metabolites (4-hydoxy-2-quinolinecarboxylic acid, urocanate, deoxyinosine, creatine, and sn-glycerol-3-phosphocholine). on 14th day, 2 core genes (EGFR, SRC) are influenced in the biological processes. Briefly, we found that 6 ingredients from earthworms have most bioactive and 5 core genes play an important role in promoting wound-healing processes. These discovers indicates earthworms could against wound via AGE-RAGE, PI3K-Akt, HIF1A, MAPK, and Axon guidance pathways.

Modulation of immune cum inflammatory pathway by earthworm granulation tissue extract in wound healing of diabetic rabbit model

Regeneration is a rare occurrence in the animal kingdom, but the earthworm stands out as a remarkable example of this phenomenon. Recent research has highlighted the promising wound healing properties of extracts derived from earthworms. Therefore, we propose that earthworm granulation tissue extract (EGTE) may facilitate wound healing by regulating immune responses in a rabbit diabetic wound model. Electron microscopy reveals that 70 % EGTE possesses noteworthy porosity with spherical to irregularly oval configuration. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) Characterization of EGTE revealed higher levels of ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3-ol, (3. beta.,22E). In-Vitro studies revealed significant anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties in dose dependent manner. Likewise, cytotoxicity assessments reveal that 70 % EGTE exhibits minimal harm to cells while displaying substantial antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. For In-Vivo studies excision wounds were created on the dorsal regions of the experimental animals and were divided as Group I (50 % EGTE), Group II (70 % EGTE), Group III (vehicle) and Group IV (distilled water). Over a 21-day observation period 70 % EGTE facilitated the early healing of wounds in the experimental animals, evident through prompt wound closure, granulation tissue formation, increased DNA content, enhanced tensile strength of the wound area and enhanced the expression/synthesis of wound healing markers/proteins. From these results it can be postulated that EGTE accelerates wound healing by immune modulation, dampening of inflammatory pathway and enhanced expression of growth markers. Henceforth making it promising candidate for therapeutic use in diabetic wound healing.

Single cell RNA sequencing reveals mesenchymal heterogeneity and critical functions of Cd271 in tooth development

BACKGROUND

Accumulating evidence suggests that the maxillary process, to which cranial crest cells migrate, is essential to tooth development. Emerging studies indicate that Cd271 plays an essential role in odontogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms have yet to be elucidated.

AIM

To establish the functionally heterogeneous population in the maxillary process, elucidate the effects of Cd271 deficiency on gene expression differences.

METHODS

p75NTR knockout (Cd271^-/-) mice (from American Jackson laboratory) were used to collect the maxillofacial process tissue of p75NTR knockout mice, and the wild-type maxillofacial process of the same pregnant mouse wild was used as control. After single cell suspension, the cDNA was prepared by loading the single cell suspension into the 10x Genomics Chromium system to be sequenced by NovaSeq6000 sequencing system. Finally, the sequencing data in Fastq format were obtained. The FastQC software is used to evaluate the quality of data and CellRanger analyzed the data. The gene expression matrix is read by R software, and Seurat is used to control and standardize the data, reduce the dimension and cluster. We search for marker genes for subgroup annotation by consulting literature and database; explore the effect of p75NTR knockout on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) gene expression and cell proportion by cell subgrouping, differential gene analysis, enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction network analysis; understand the interaction between MSCs cells and the differentiation trajectory and gene change characteristics of p75NTR knockout MSCs by cell communication analysis and pseudo-time analysis. Last we verified the findings single cell sequencing in vitro.

RESULTS

We identified 21 cell clusters, and we re-clustered these into three subclusters. Importantly, we revealed the cell–cell communication networks between clusters. We clarified that Cd271 was significantly associated with the regulation of mineralization.

CONCLUSION

This study provides comprehensive mechanistic insights into the maxillary- process-derived MSCs and demonstrates that Cd271 is significantly associated with the odontogenesis in mesenchymal populations.

Extracts of Portulaca oleracea promote wound healing by enhancing angiology regeneration and inhibiting iron accumulation in mice

Objective

To investigate the role of Portulaca oleracea (POL) in promoting revascularization and re-epithelization as well as inhibiting iron aggregation and inflammation of deep tissue pressure injury (DTPI).

Methods

The hydroalcoholic extract of POL (P) and aqueous phase fraction of POL (PD) were prepared based on maceration and liquid–liquid extraction. The number of new blood vessels and VEGF-A expression level were assessed using H&E stain and Western blot on injured muscle to examine the role of POL different extracts in vascularization. The iron distribution and total elemental iron of injured muscle were detected using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Perls’ staining to determine whether POL extracts can inhibit the iron accumulation. Besides, the ability of POL extracts to promote wound healing by combining re-epithelization time, inflammation degree and collagen deposition area were comprehensively evaluated.

Results

In vitro, we observed a significant increase in HUVEC cell viability, migration rate and the number of the tube after P and PD treatment (P < 0.05). In vivo, administration of P and PD impacted vascularization and iron accumulation on injured tissue, evident from more new blood vessels, higher expression of VEGF-A and decreased muscle iron concentration of treatment groups compared with no-treatment groups (P < 0.05). Besides, shorter re-epithelization time, reduced inflammatory infiltration and distinct collagen deposition were associated with administration of P and PD (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

POL extract administration groups have high-quality wound healing, which is associated with increased new blood vessels, collagen deposition and re-epithelization, along with decreased iron accumulation and inflammatory infiltration. Our results suggest that that POL extract is beneficial to repair injured muscle after ischemia–reperfusion, highlighting the potential of POL in the DTPI treatment.

Immuno-modulatory biomaterials as anti-inflammatory therapeutics

Biocompatible and biodegradable biomaterials are used extensively in regenerative medicine and serve as a tool for tissue replacement, as a platform for regeneration of injured tissue, and as a vehicle for delivery of drugs. One of the key factors that must be addressed in developing successful biomaterial-based therapeutics is inflammation. Whilst inflammation is initially essential for wound healing; bringing about clearance of debris and infection, prolonged inflammation can result in delayed wound healing, rejection of the biomaterial, further tissue damage and increased scarring and fibrosis. In this context, the choice of biomaterial must be considered carefully to minimise further induction of inflammation. Here we address the ability of the biomaterials themselves to modulate inflammatory responses and outline how the physico-chemical properties of the materials impact on their pro and anti-inflammatory properties (Fig. 1).