Wound Healing and Antioxidant Properties of <i>Launaea procumbens</i> Supported by Metabolomic Profiling and Molecular Docking

• Main Authors: Shaimaa R. Ahmed (Author), Ehab M. Mostafa (Author), Arafa Musa (Author), Enas Ezzat Rateb (Author), Mohammad M. Al-Sanea (Author), Dalia H. Abu-Baih (Author), Mahmoud A. Elrehany (Author), Entesar Ali Saber (Author), Mostafa E. Rateb (Author), Usama Ramadan Abdelmohsen (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.3390/antiox11112258; 2076-3921
• Keywords: <i>Launaea procumbens</i>; antioxidant; wound healing; LC-HRMS profiling; docking; luteolin 8-C-glucoside; Therapeutics. Pharmacology; RM1-950
• Source: Antioxidants, Vol 11, Iss 11, p 2258 (2022)

Wounds adversely affect people's quality of life and have psychological, social, and economic impacts. Herbal remedies of <i>Launaea procumbens</i> (LP) are used to treat wounds. In an excision wound model, topical application of LP significantly promoted wound closure (on day 14, LP-treated animals had the highest percentages of wound closure in comparison with the other groups, as the wound was entirely closed with a closure percentage of 100%, <i>p</i> < 0.05). Histological analysis revealed a considerable rise in the number of fibroblasts, the amount of collagen, and its cross-linking in LP-treated wounds. Gene expression patterns showed significant elevation of TGF-β levels (2.1-fold change after 7 days treatment and 2.7-fold change in 14 days treatment) and downregulation of the inflammatory TNF-α and IL-1β levels in LP-treated wounds. Regarding in vitro antioxidant activity, LP extract significantly diminished the formation of H₂O₂ radical (IC₅₀ = 171.6 μg/mL) and scavenged the superoxide radical (IC₅₀ of 286.7 µg/mL), indicating antioxidant potential in a dose-dependent manner. Dereplication of the secondary metabolites using LC-HRMS resulted in the annotation of 16 metabolites. The identified compounds were docked against important wound-healing targets, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), collagen α-1, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Among dereplicated compounds, luteolin 8-C-glucoside (orientin) demonstrated binding potential to four investigated targets (VEGF, interleukin 1β, TNF-α, and collagen α-1). To conclude, <i>Launaea procumbens</i> extract could be regarded as a promising topical therapy to promote wound healing in excisional wounds, and luteolin 8-C-glucoside (orientin), one of its constituents, is a potential wound-healing drug lead.