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Acacia honey accelerates in vitro corneal ulcer wound healing model
Norzana Abd Ghafar1, Choy Ker-Woon2, Chua Kien Hui3
1Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC), Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. norzanafi9506@yahoo.com.
Background:
The study aimed to evaluate the effects of Acacia honey (AH) on the migration, differentiation and healing properties of the cultured rabbit corneal fibroblasts.
Methods:
Stromal derived corneal fibroblasts from New Zealand White rabbit (n = 6) were isolated and cultured until passage 1. In vitro corneal ulcer was created using a 4 mm corneal trephine onto confluent cultures and treated with basal medium (FD), medium containing serum (FDS), with and without 0.025 % AH. Wound areas were recorded at day 0, 3 and 6 post wound creation. Genes and proteins associated with wound healing and differentiation such as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen type I, lumican and matrix metalloproteinase 12 (MMP12) were evaluated using qRT-PCR and immunocytochemistry respectively.
Results:
Cells cultured with AH-enriched FDS media achieved complete wound closure at day 6 post wound creation. The cells cultured in AH-enriched FDS media increased the expression of vimentin, collagen type I and lumican genes and decreased the ALDH, α-SMA and MMP12 gene expressions. Protein expression of ALDH, vimentin and α-SMA were in accordance with the gene expression analyses.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrated AH accelerate corneal fibroblasts migration and differentiation of the in vitro corneal ulcer model while increasing the genes and proteins associated with stromal wound healing.
