The potential application of natural products in cutaneous wound healing: A review of preclinical evidence

Under normal circumstances, wound healing can be summarized as three processes. These include inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The vast majority of wounds heal rapidly; however, a large percentage of nonhealing wounds have still not been studied significantly. The factors affecting wound nonhealing are complex and diverse, and identifying an effective solution from nature becomes a key goal of research. This study aimed to highlight and review the mechanisms and targets of natural products (NPs) for treating nonhealing wounds. The results of relevant studies have shown that the effects of NPs are associated with PI3K-AKT, P38MAPK, fibroblast growth factor, MAPK, and ERK signaling pathways and involve tumor growth factor (TNF), vascular endothelial growth factor, TNF-α, interleukin-1β, and expression of other cytokines and proteins. The 25 NPs that contribute to wound healing were systematically summarized by an inductive collation of the six major classes of compounds, including saponins, polyphenols, flavonoids, anthraquinones, polysaccharides, and others, which will further direct the attention to the active components of NPs and provide research ideas for further development of new products for wound healing.

Advancing Discovery of Snail Mucins Function and Application

Mucins are a highly glycosylated protein family that are secreted by animals for adhesion, hydration, lubrication, and other functions. Despite their ubiquity, animal mucins are largely uncharacterized. Snails produce mucin proteins in their mucous for a wide array of biological functions, including microbial protection, adhesion and lubrication. Recently, snail mucins have also become a lucrative source of innovation with wide ranging applications across chemistry, biology, biotechnology, and biomedicine. Specifically, snail mucuses have been applied as skin care products, wound healing agents, surgical glues, and to combat gastric ulcers. Recent advances in integrated omics (genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, glycomic) technologies have improved the characterization of gastropod mucins, increasing the generation of novel biomaterials. This perspective describes the current research on secreted snail mucus, highlighting the potential of this biopolymer, and also outlines a research strategy to fulfill the unmet need of examining the hierarchical structures that lead to the enormous biological and chemical diversity of snail mucus genes.

Invertebrate Water Extracts as Biocompatible Reducing Agents for the Green Synthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles

We report the use of water extracts of two invertebrates, snail body and earthworm, as biocompatible reducing agents for the green synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles. The reaction conditions were optimized by varying the extract concentration, gold ion or silver ion concentration, reaction time, and reaction temperature. The gold and silver nanoparticles exhibited their characteristic surface plasmon resonance bands. Mostly spherical and amorphous shapes of the nanoparticles were synthesized. The average diameters of the gold and silver nanoparticles were 4.56 ± 1.81 nm and 11.12 ± 5.25 nm, respectively, when the extract of snail body was used as the reducing agent. The earthworm extracts produced gold and silver nanoparticles with average diameters of 6.70 ± 2.69 nm and 12.19 ± 4.28 nm, respectively. This report suggests that the invertebrate natural products have potential as biocompatible reducing agents for the green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles. This utility would open up novel applications of invertebrate natural products as nanocomposites and in nanomedicine.