Darutoside promotes skin wound healing via regulating macrophage polarization

Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process of tissue formation, while polarization of macrophages plays an important role during this process. Darutoside is one of the major components of the ethanol extract from Siegesbeckia, which has the effects of anti-inflammation, healing rheumatism and promoting joint health. To investigate whether darutoside could promote wound healing, we established full-thickness excisional cutaneous wound healing model in C57/BL6 mice and applied darutoside on the skin wounds. The results showed that darutoside can improve wound healing in mice. Mechanistically, we treated RAW264.7 and macrophages with darutoside in vitro, and found that darutoside inhibited the LPS-induced polarization and pro-inflammatory cytokines expression in macrophages by inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway. For in vivo study, we also found that darutoside could promote the growth of epithelial cells in wound tissue and inhibit the expression of iNOS+ macrophages around wound tissue by IHC staining. In addition, we also found that darutoside could inhibit the expression of inflammatory factors in wound tissue by PCR. Our data revealed that darutoside could promote wound healing by regulating macrophage polarization via inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway.