Fig 1.
(A) Photographs of excisional wounds on day 2 of treatment: TCEG and Control; (B) Photomicrographs of histological sections stained in hematoxylin-eosin: skin at days 4, 7, 10, and 14 of TCEG and Control.
The original magnification was 2x. (●) Representative re-epithelialized surface. (▬) 500 μm. TCEG: wound treated with gel containing 1% crude extract; Control: wound treated with base gel.
Fig 2.
(A) Length at days 4 and 7; (B) thickness at days 10 and 14 of the re-epithelialization surface. (C) Number of cells in metaphase/mm in basal and supra-basal re-epithelialized surface at days 4, 7, 10, and 14. The results are expressed as mean±standard deviation. Values are means of 3 independent experiments. Statistical data were used to compare the days of treatment between TCEG and Control (*p<0.05). (█) TCEG and (█) Control. TCEG: wound treated with gel containing 1% crude extract; Control: wound treated with base gel.
Fig 3.
Percentages of (A) type III collagen (immature) and (B) type I collagen (mature) at days 4, 7, 10, and 14.
The results are expressed as mean±standard deviation. Values are means of 3 independent experiments. Statistical data were used to compare the days of treatment between TCEG and Control (*p<0.05). (█) TCEG and (█) Control. TCEG: wound treated with gel containing 1% crude extract; Control: wound treated with base gel.
Fig 4.
(A) Western blot analyses of COX-2, SOD-2, VEGF, and GAPDH protein at days 4, 7, and 10 of TCEG (T) and Control (C). (B) Measurement obtained from the ratio between optical densities of protein bands from treatments and loading control (GAPDH). GAPDH was set to 100%. The results are expressed as mean±standard deviation. Values are means of 3 independent experiments. Statistical data were used to compare the days of treatment between TCEG and Control (*p<0.05). TCEG: wound treated with gel containing 1% crude extract; Control: wound treated with base gel.
Fig 5.
(A) photoacoustic spectra of BG, CEG, and in the inset the Gauss fit of absorption bands of CE; (B) photoacoustic spectra of TCEG over 14 days of treatment; (C) difference between TCEG and control dermal spectra, and in the inset the Gauss fit of absorption bands of CEG; (D) the area of permeation behavior of the absorption band at 290 nm.
The results are expressed as mean±standard deviation. Values are means of 3 independent experiments. BG: base gel; CE: crude extract; CEG: gel containing 1% CE; Control: wound treated with BG; TCEG: wound treated with CEG.