Effects of Foeniculum vulgare essential oil compounds, fenchone and limonene, on experimental wound healing.

We investigated the wound healing efficacy of the Foeniculum vulgare compounds, fenchone and limonene, using an excisional cutaneous wound model in rats. An excision wound was made on the back of the rat and fenchone and limonene were applied topically to the wounds once daily, separately or together, for 10 days. Tissue sections from the wounds were evaluated for histopathology. The healing potential was assessed by comparison to an untreated control group and an olive oil treated sham group. We scored wound healing based on epidermal regeneration, granulation tissue thickness and angiogenesis. After day 6, wound contraction with limonene was significantly better than for the control group. Ten days after treatment, a significant increase was observed in wound contraction and re-epithelialization in both fenchone and limonene oil treated groups compared to the sham group. Groups treated with fenchone and with fenchone + limonene scored significantly higher than the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant compared to the olive oil treated group. Our findings support the beneficial effects of fenchone and limonene for augmenting wound healing. The anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities of fenchone and limonene oil increased collagen synthesis and decreased the number of inflammatory cells during wound healing and may be useful for treating skin wounds.

Monitoring of complement activation biomarkers and eculizumab in complement-mediated renal disorders.

Various complement-mediated renal disorders are treated currently with the complement inhibitor eculizumab. By blocking the cleavage of C5, this monoclonal antibody prevents cell damage caused by complement-mediated inflammation. We included 23 patients with atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS, n = 12), C3 glomerulopathies (C3G, n = 9) and acute antibody-mediated renal graft rejection (AMR, n = 2), treated with eculizumab in 12 hospitals in Germany. We explored the course of complement activation biomarkers and the benefit of therapeutic drug monitoring of eculizumab. Complement activation was assessed by analysing the haemolytic complement function of the classical (CH50) and the alternative pathway (APH50), C3 and the activation products C3d, C5a and sC5b-9 prior to, 3 and 6 months after eculizumab treatment. Eculizumab concentrations were determined by a newly established specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum eculizumab concentrations up to 1082 µg/ml point to drug accumulation, especially in paediatric patients. Loss of the therapeutic antibody via urine with concentrations up to 56 µg/ml correlated with proteinuria. In aHUS patients, effective complement inhibition was demonstrated by significant reductions of CH50, APH50, C3d and sC5b-9 levels, whereas C5a levels were only reduced significantly after 6 months' treatment. C3G patients presented increased C3d and consistently low C3 levels, reflecting ongoing complement activation and consumption at the C3 level, despite eculizumab treatment. A comprehensive complement analysis together with drug monitoring is required to distinguish mode of complement activation and efficacy of eculizumab treatment in distinct renal disorders. Accumulation of the anti-C5 antibody points to the need for a patient-orientated tailored therapy.

Effects of sludge retention time and biosurfactant on the treatment of polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in a petrochemical industry wastewater.

A laboratory-scale aerobic activated sludge reactor (AASR) system was employed to investigate the effects of sludge retention time (SRT) on the removal of three polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with low benzene rings [(acenaphthene (ACT), fluorene (FLN) and phenanthrene (PHE)] and six PAHs with high benzene rings [(benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF), benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DahA), benzo[g,h,i]perylene (BghiP)] in the presence of rhamnolipid (RD), emulsan (EM) and surfactine (SR) biosurfactants. This study showed that biosurfactants enhance the PAH biodegradation by increasing the biomass growth. RD exhibits a better performance than the other biosurfactants in the removal of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and PAHs. At a RD concentration of 15 mg/L aerobic treatment for 25 days, SRT was enough to remove over 95% of total PAHs, and COD(dis). Under the same conditions 75% of COD originating from the inert organics (COD(inert)) and 96% of COD originating from the inert soluble microbial products (COD(imp)) were removed. At 25 days SRT and 15 mg/L RD concentration, about 88% of PAHs were biodegraded by the AASR system, 4% were accumulated in the system, 3% were released in the effluent, and 5% remained in the waste sludge.