Collagen-based sponge hastens wound healing via decrease of inflammatory cytokines.

The objective of this study was to compare and evaluate the efficacy of collagen-based sponge compared to commercial collagen sponge as a potent open wound-dressing material. In this study, 10 mm diameter skin incision was made on lateral side of rats. The wound was monitored regularly until day 12. Histopathology results revealed the faster re-epithelialization and lesser inflammatory cells, and also masson's trichrome staining showed that collagen fibrils were horizontal and interwoven in collagen-based sponge group. The expression of growth factors such as VEGF and TGF-ß1 was found to be upregulated in transcriptional and translational levels, suggesting the importance of collagen-based sponge as a potent wound-healing material. Furthermore, IL-6 and TNF-α in the wound tissue were significantly down-regulated in 2 and 6 days in collagen-based sponge group and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 level was found to be upregulated throughout 12 days. These results cumulatively revealed that collagen-based sponge may serve as novel material for wound healing in the animal model.

GBCK25, fermented ginseng, attenuates cardiac dysfunction in high fat diet-induced obese mice.

The fermentation of medicinal herbs facilitated by microbes is assumed to exert promising therapeutic efficacy on the absorption, bioavailability, and pharmacological effects by speeding up the making or conversion of active constituents into their metabolites. We examined the cardioprotective potential of fermented ginseng, GBCK25, against high-fat diet (HFD)-induced metabolic and functional illnesses as following the essential analysis such as electrocardiographic parameters, alterations of body and organ weights, and echocardiographic studies. The results exhibited that body weights were significantly reduced and the gain of different organ weights were partly eased by GBCK25 treatment. Echocardiography results proposed the amelioration of heart function through normalized levels of left ventricle systolic pressure, ejection fraction, and fractional shortening. These outcomes deliver straight confirmation that GBCK25 could be a potential nutraceutical source for the relief of HFD-induced obesity mediated cardiac dysfunctions.

Collagen/chitosan porous bone tissue engineering composite scaffold incorporated with Ginseng compound K.

In this study, suitable scaffold materials for bone tissue engineering were successfully prepared using fish scale collagen, hydroxyapatite, chitosan, and beta-tricalcium phosphate. Porous composite scaffolds were prepared by freeze drying method. The Korean traditional medicinal ginseng compound K, a therapeutic agent for the treatment of osteoporosis that reduces inflammation and enhances production of bone morphogenetic protein-2, was incorporated into the composite scaffold. The scaffold was characterized for pore size, swelling, density, degradation, mineralization, cell viability and attachment, and its morphological features were examined using scanning electron microscopy. This characterization and in vitro analysis showed that the prepared scaffold was biocompatible and supported the growth of MG-63 cells, and therefore has potential as an alternative approach for bone regeneration.