Wound healing is a physiological and systematic tissue repair cycle which occurs at the site of injury. A wound that fails to proceed through an orderly and timely reparative process of healing is classified as chronic. Moreover, approximately six million people suffer from chronic wounds worldwide, with Australia spending $27.5 million per annum just to provide care for venous leg ulcers. In general, more than 60% of the world’s population continue to depend upon medicinal plants as their main source of treatment. However, the wound healing potential of a large number of medicinal plants and cognate bioactive components still remain unknown. As such, this project aims to identify bioactive compounds from an Australian native plant and determine its wound healing potential.
Upon isolation and identification of bioactive compounds, the bactericidal, anti-inflammatory and wound healing properties of each will be assessed. It is hypothesised that the isolated bioactive compounds will reduce inflammation and microbial load within the wound and enhance wound healing properties i.e. an increased proliferation of keratinocytes and fibroblasts thereby accelerating the normal wound healing process.
Plant samples will be dried and ground into a fine powder and then individually incubated in six solvents with varying polarities. These resulting fractions will then be screened against eighteen common wound-colonising bacteria to assess their antimicrobial activity using the well diffusion assay. Potential bactericidal extracts will be separated using high performance liquid chromatography and tested for their proliferative and cytotoxic effects. Possible morphological changes to either human keratinocyte or fibroblast cells will also be identified. A cytometric bead array will be used to ascertain the anti-inflammatory activity of the bioactive compounds.
Successful identification of bioactive compound/s from this project will result in the potential production of a novel drug which can significantly enhance the healing of chronic wounds.