SEOUL, Korea—According to new research, 1 µg/ml of low-dose water extracts of gromwell (WG) enhances the migration of both cultured human keratinocytes (CHK) and fibroblasts with increased lipid synthesis in an in vitro wound scratch model (Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2012;25:57-64). CHK or fibroblasts were treated with 1 to 1,000 µg/ml WG for up to 48 hours following scratch wound formation. Cell migration was assessed by measuring coverage (in percent) from the wound margin, while cell proliferation and lipid synthesis were determined by [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA fractions, and [3H]palmitate or [3H]serine incorporation into lipid fractions, respectively.
Low-dose WG (1 µg/ml) enhanced the wound coverage for both CHK and fibroblasts at 24 hours, while cell proliferation was not altered in either cell types. Synthesis of both total lipids and individual lipid classes, including phospholipids, sphingolipids and neutral lipids were found to be increased at 24 hours in CHK treated with 1 µg/ml WG; in similarly treated fibroblasts, only the syntheses of sphingolipids (such as ceramides and glucosylceramides), but not other lipid species, were significantly increased. In contrast, a higher dose of WG (10 to 1,000 µg/ml) did not enhance wound coverage, and 100 µg/ml WG neither altered cell proliferation nor lipid synthesis in both CHK and fibroblasts.
