The effect of extracellular vesicles of rhus Coriaria L. on wound healing

Wounds are injuries, disruptions, or damage to living tissue that occur as a direct result of trauma or due to underlying disease processes such as diabetes, venous/arterial insufficiency, or immunological diseases. Wounds are classified as acute and chronic. Acute wounds are injuries that usually heal within 3-4 weeks. During this time, chronic wounds do not heal. Wound healing is a complex biological and physiological process in which the body uses two different mechanisms to heal, including tissue regeneration and tissue repair. The history of wound healing treatment dates back to ancient times. Medicinal plants have been used in wound treatment among the people in Turkey for many years. Rhus coriaria L. (Anacardiaceae), known as sumac, is traditionally used in the treatment of wounds and burns in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, especially in Gaziantep. The wound healing effect of sumac extract has been well documented in previous studies, but sumac extracellular vesicles have not been studied yet. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to develop an optimized protocol for the isolation and identification of extracellular vesicles from sumac plant and then evaluate the wound healing effect of SECVs based on in vitro tests including cell viability and proliferation, cell migration, wound healing assay, tube formation assay, and gene expression analysis. According to the results, it is observed that SECVs enhance cell migration, proliferation, and healing capacity of wound-associated cells. On the other hand, it is found that SECVs do not induce the angiogenesis of the endothelial cells. Furthermore, qPCR results showed that genes related cell migration and anti inflammation were upregulated as a result of SECV treatment. Therefore, all the results indicate that SECVs have a promising potential in terms of providing successful wound healing process. In conclusion, the presented study will be a valuable precursor in searching SECVs and the potential effects on wound healing. With new developing techniques, the mechanisms might understood better and the application of SECVs' effect might reinforced via in vivo studies.