Phloroglucinol derivatives from Hypericum species induce in vitro proliferation of cells involved in the wound healing process

Abstract

The genus Hypericum (Hypericaceae) is a recognized source of therapeutic agents, being some species widely used due to their wound healing properties. In a previous study, south Brazilian species H. caprifoliatum, H. carinatum, H. connatum, H. myrianthum and H. polyanthemum demonstrated potential to induce proliferation of keratinocytes. In the present study, the effect of phloroglucinol derivatives isolated from Hypericum on cell proliferation of human keratinocytes, fibroblasts and stem cells was investigated. The best results, determined by the MTT assay, were achieved with cariphenone B at concentrations of 0.01 and 0.1 µM (122.3% and 114%, respectively) on HaCaT cells. Uliginosin B was able to induce the proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells (129% at 10 µM) and MRC5 fibroblasts (152.5% at 5 µM). These findings confirm the capacity of phloroglucinol derivatives to induce the in vitro cellular proliferation and reinforce the importance of Hypericum species as potential sources of wound healing compounds.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Hypericum
• phloroglucinol derivatives
• wound healing
• keratinocytes
• mesenchymal stem cells
• fibroblasts

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. Luisa L. Villa and Dr. Silvya S. Maria-Engler for donating the HaCaT cells, to the Brazilian agencies CAPES, CNPq, FAPERGS, MCTIC, FINEP and IPCT for the financial support. The first author is grateful to CAPES agency for the doctoral fellowship.

Disclosure statement

The authors have declared that there is no conflict of interest.