Time-Dependent Gene Expression Patterns in Epidermal Wound Healing: Mechanistic Insights into Cayratia japonica Hydrogel Intervention After Anal Fistula Surgery.
Chen Q, Hou Y, Abdulrasol S, He R, Liu T
Medicinal Plants
A climbing vine used for centuries in Asian folk medicine just passed a clinical trial — the same kind of rigorous test pharmaceutical drugs must clear — confirming its wound-healing reputation has real molecular teeth.
Scientists took a traditional herbal plant called Cayratia japonica (a wild climbing vine used in folk medicine) and turned it into a healing gel. They tested it on patients recovering from surgery and found wounds healed much faster — about 68% healed versus only 45% in the control group. By digging into the molecular biology, they discovered that a specific compound in the plant latches onto a key repair protein in human skin cells and switches on the body's wound-rebuilding process.
Key Findings
CJH hydrogel achieved a wound healing rate of 68.5% vs 45.2% in controls (P < 0.001) and shortened recovery time in a randomized controlled trial of 81 patients.
Multi-omics analysis identified three stage-specific hub genes in human wound healing: OASL (acute immune phase), TIMP3 (early repair), and BMP4 (remodeling phase).
Luteolin 7-glucuronide, a flavonoid compound in Cayratia japonica, binds BMP4 protein with a docking energy of -8.2 kcal/mol, enhancing its thermal stability and activating downstream Smad signaling to boost fibroblast proliferation.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers found that a gel made from the medicinal plant Cayratia japonica significantly sped up wound healing after anal fistula surgery, and traced the key mechanism to a plant compound called Luteolin 7-glucuronide that activates a protein (BMP4) driving tissue repair.
Abstract Preview
Postoperative wound healing, especially after anal-fistula surgery, poses unique clinical challenges due to the complex anal anatomy and the need for accelerated recovery. Although the ethnomedicin...
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Causonis japonica is a vine plant in the grape family, Vitaceae. It is the type species of its genus and is native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Australia and the West Pacific. It is used as a traditional Chinese medicine to relieve swelling and heat, and to enhance diuresis and detoxification.