Obtenção e avaliação do potencial cicatrizante de nanoemulsão tópica contendo o extrato da espécie jatropha mollissima (pohl) baill.

Abstract

The skin, the largest organ in the human body, acts as a protective barrier. When its integrity is compromised, it is essential to quickly restore physiological conditions to prevent complications such as infections. To this end, the healing process takes place in four stages, which overlap throughout the process: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and remodeling. In order to speed up this process, various drugs can be implemented to act on the different stages of healing, including the use of medicinal plants which have a variety of compounds with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory capabilities, and which stand out in tissue repair. This study evaluated the species Jatropha mollissima (Pohl) Baill (Jm), known as Jatropha, which is popularly used for therapeutic purposes. Among the biological activities of this species are the antiophidic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities already described in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a topical nanoemulsion containing the hydroethanolic extract of Jm leaves, in order to evaluate its healing activity and contribute to the development of alternative treatments for skin wounds.The phytochemical characterization of the Jm extract was carried out by quantifying the total phenolic content, with detection of 80.1437. ± 0.8338 mg of gallic acid/g of extract. As a result, a nanoemulsion was obtained to carry the Jm extract (NJm), in order to improve the physical stability and permeability profile. The physicochemical characterization of the nanoemulsion was carried out by checking the average droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI), pH and quantification of the phenolic content, as well as macroscopic analysis. NJm had an average size of 130,97 ± 1,03, PDI of 0,1957 ± 0,00556, pH of 0,0406 ± 0,041 and phenolic content of 24.9477 ± 15.0694 mg of gallic acid/g of extract, with a brown color and homogeneous appearance. To assess cytotoxicity in vitro, the hemolytic test was carried out on the extract and nanoemulsion, which showed no toxicity at the concentrations tested (500-31.25 µg/mL). Finally, the healing activity was evaluated, in which the NJm showed significant wound closure from the 5th day of treatment, when compared to the untreated group, with 39% for the NJm and 20% for the untreated group, and on the 8th day reaching 57%. Thus, the results suggest that the nanoemulsion developed containing the extract of J. mollissima is promising and may be contributing pharmacologically to the treatment of wounds.