Evaluation of Cytotoxicity and Migratory Effect of Aqueous Extract of Baeckea frutescens Lin. on Keratinocytes

Abstract

Wounds, especially chronic wounds, have become a global problem affecting the quality of life, economic welfare, and productivity. Like fibroblast and endothelial cell migration, Keratinocyte migration has been associated with the wound-healing properties of certain compounds, fractions, or plant extracts. This study aimed to investigate the cytotoxicity and migration effect of the aqueous extract of Baeckea frutescens (BFAE) on immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCaT). Cytotoxicity was assessed using the MTT tetrazolium reduction assay, and the viability of HaCaT treated with 7.81–1000 µg/ml BFAE was determined. The migratory effect of BFAE at concentrations of 0, 1, 5, and 10 µg/ml was determined by scratching assay, and the comparison of migration rate between 0 and 12 hours was evaluated. The results indicate that BFAE is not cytotoxic when treated at concentrations of 200 µg/ml and below, when it has a cell viability greater than 80 %, compared to the untreated cells. BFAE also showed a migratory effect on HaCaT when it increased the migration of HaCaT by 1.3-fold when treated with 1 and 5 µg/ml BFAE, respectively. These results demonstrate the wound-healing properties of BFAE, which may be a very good candidate for a plant-derived wound-healing product.