(464a) Curcumin and Acemannan Loaded Ultrasmall Hydrogel Patches in Wound Healing

To evolve a complex for efficient and safe wound healing, stimuli-responsive ultrasmall micelles of pluronic surfactant-containing natural plant extracts, namely curcumin (Cur) and acemannan (Ac), were engineered for the co-delivery of Cur and Ac. The pluronic is capable of showing unique thermoresponsive property, making it suitable as an encapsulation matrix and for drug delivery applications. Ac is the main component present in Aloe Vera (AV), which is responsible for its bioactive activities whose applications are limited by its low stability. Cur is another widely used antimicrobial compound which suffers from short biological half-life, poor solubility, and low bioavailability. We report a novel green approach for the extraction and encapsulation of both the compounds into nanoformulations, which takes advantage of the combined effects of both the components. For the first time, we report the extraction of Ac using environment-friendly solvents such as water and ethanol. The extraction approach found to help preserve the active functionality of the bioactive moieties of the active components of the nanoformulation. The effects of nanoformulations explored in the in-vivo wound healing studies revealed that the Cur and Ac synergistically heal the wound in a short time frame when present alone. The increase in the concentrations of curcumin influenced the healing properties of the material. For days 1, 6, and 10 of the wound dressing experiment at 28°C, the % wound closure of the mice were the highest for the NPAcC2 (i.e., 100%) compared to the untreated control (25%). Natural products nanoformulations have warranted the side effects caused by commercial drugs in wound healing.