Abstract:
Burns are the fourth most common type of injury worldwide. Many patients also sufer numerous infections and com‑
plications that impair the burn healing process, which makes the treatment of burns a challenge. This study aimed
to prepare and characterize nano-emulsion (NE) of propolis, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin K for treatment of seconddegree burns. High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used for the qualitative assessment of the phenolic
and favonoid contents in crude propolis. The structural, optical, and morphological characterization, besides the anti‑
microbial, antioxidant, cytotoxicity, in-vitro, and in-vivo wound healing activities were evaluated. For in-vivo study, 30
adult male albino rats were divided randomly into control and treated groups, which were treated with normal saline
(0.9%), and NE, respectively. The wounds were examined clinicopathologically on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th days. The
NE revealed the formation of a mesh-like structure with a size range of 80–180nm and a 21.6±6.22mV zeta poten‑
tial. The IC50 of NE was 22.29μg/ml. Also, the NE showed antioxidant and antimicrobial activity against Escherichia
coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The in-vitro investigation of the NE on normal human skin
fbroblasts using scratch assay proved an acceleration for wound healing. The treated rats showed improved wound
healing clinically and pathologically and wound contraction percent (WC %) was 98.13% at 14th day, also increased
epithelization, fbrous tissue formation, collagen deposition, and angiogenesis compared to the control. It could be
concluded that the prepared NE possesses antimicrobial, antioxidant, and healing efect in the treatment of seconddegree burns.
