An investigation on the in vitro wound healing activity and phytochemical composition of hypericum pseudolaeve N. Robson growing in Turkey

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro wound healing effects of the methanolic and aqueous extracts of Hypericum pseudolaeve N. Robson obtained by two different methods as well as its cytotoxicity, antioxidant activity, and selected phytochemical constituents. Materials and Methods: Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were measured using spectrophotometry-based methods. The cytotoxic effects of the extracts on L929 mouse fibroblast cells were evaluated by and 2h-tetrazolium,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Moreover, migration and spreading of the treated fibroblast cells were assessed by cell scratch assay as an in vitro wound healing model. In addition, the chemical content of the species was determined by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: The results of the cytotoxicity assay indicated that the methanolic and aqueous extract did not have any cytotoxic effect on fibroblast cells at concentrations up to 500 µg/mL. Fibroblast migration was significantly increased by 62 µg/mL concentration of the aqueous extracts compared to the negative control. The extracts showed good antioxidant activity and 16 phytochemical compounds were detected by HPLC, with the highest amount for epicatechin. Conclusion: The results showed that Hypericum pseudolaeve extracts have wound healing potential and contain several important antioxidant phenolic compounds. This species deserves further investigation aiming to isolate and identify the active compounds.