Development of propolis, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin K nano-emulsion for the treatment of second-degree burns in albino rats

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.