Modulation of inflammation by Cicaderma ointment accelerates skin wound healing

Skin wound healing is a natural and intricate process that takes place after injury, involving different sequential phases such as hemostasis, inflammatory phase, proliferative phase, and remodeling that are associated with complex biochemical events. The interruption or failure of wound healing leads to chronic nonhealing wounds or fibrosis-associated diseases constituting a major health problem where, unfortunately, medicines are not very effective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of Cicaderma ointment (Boiron, Lyon, France) to accelerate ulcer closure without fibrosis and investigate wound healing dynamic processes. We used a necrotic ulcer model in mice induced by intradermal doxorubicin injection, and after 11 days, when the ulcer area was maximal, we applied Vaseline petroleum jelly or Cicaderma every 2 days. Topical application of Cicaderma allowed a rapid recovery of mature epidermal structure, a more compact and organized dermis and collagen bundles compared with the Vaseline group. Furthermore, the expression of numerous cytokines/molecules in the ulcer was increased 11 days after doxorubicin injection compared with healthy skin. Cicaderma rapidly reduced the level of proinflammatory cytokines, mainly tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and others of the TNF pathway, which can be correlated to a decrease of polymorphonuclear recruitment. It is noteworthy that the modulation of inflammation through TNF-α, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α, interleukin (IL)-12, IL-4, and macrophage-colony-stimulating factor was maintained 9 days after the first ointment application, facilitating the wound closure without affecting angiogenesis. These cytokines seem to be potential targets for therapeutic approaches in chronic wounds. Our results confirm the use of Cicaderma for accelerating skin wound healing and open new avenues for sequential treatments to improve healing.