The wound-healing effect of turbinaria triquetra extract and polysaccharide contents alone or loaded on chitosan nanoparticles in human fibroblast cells: in-vitro study

Background/aim Seaweeds contain biologically active molecules that are important in the pharmaceutical industry. The present study aimed to evaluate the wound-healing effect of seaweed Turbinaria triquetra extract and polysaccharides (PE) content alone or loaded on chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) in human fibroblast cells [human skin fibroblast (HSF)]. Materials and methods T. triquetra were collected from Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt. The preparation of ethyl acetate extract (EAE) and PE was carried out. Chitosan nanoformulation was prepared using nanoparticle techniques of Dynamic Light Scattering and the Electron Microscope was used for morphology determination. The HSF cell line used was divided into a control group (untreated cell), cells treated with CSNPs, EAE, or PE alone, or loaded on EAE-CSNPs or PE-CSNPs. MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effect with different concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 μg/ml for 48 h. The healing scratched area change was measured for all groups at 0 time, after 1, 2, and 3 days with IC50 of all treatments and was confirmed by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope. Results All nanoparticles revealed spherical shape and the average particle sizes, zeta potential, and polydispersity index between all groups showed significant changes (P<0.05); however, EAE-CSNPs was the best. The viability of the HSF cell line was assessed in treated groups and the high proliferation rate was in EAE-CSNPs and PE-CSNPs at a dose of 0.1 or 100 μg/ml. In addition, the carrier group exhibited no cytotoxic effect of T. triquetra extracts. The wound-healing assay revealed that the PE-CSNPs group has a strong topical healing effect on the third day of treatment. In parallel, the result examined by the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope showed the highest proliferation in HSF cells in both EAE-CSNPs and PE-CSNPs-treated cells, while PE-CSNPs was the best and appeared with a low number of dead cells. Conclusion This study concluded that T. triquetra extract and PEs content alone or loaded on CSNPs showed an active wound-healing effect in human fibroblast cell, in addition cell treated with PEs extract of T. triquetra and loaded on CSNPs have a strong topical healing effect and might be a potential therapeutic agent for skin wound-healing.