Multifunctional marine polymers composite supplemented with Artemisia absinthium emulsion for improving chronic wound healing: an in vitro study

The aim of this study was to develop a 3D multifunctional porous composite based on marine polymers, fish collagen (COL) extracted from Dicentrarchus labrax skin and sulfated polysaccharides (SP) extracted from Cladophora vagabunda seaweed, supplemented with wormwood ( Artemisia absinthium ) emulsion (WE) for improving the healing of chronic wounds. Characterization of the submicron WE based on wormwood hydrolate showed spherical droplets by TEM, Z-average diameter of 21.31 nm and negative zeta potential determined by DLS and antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The 3D COL-SP-WE composite revealed porous morphology by SEM, and a gradual stress increase characteristic for a soft network capable of sustaining medium loads before deformation. The composite had good cytocompatibility in human HaCaT keratinocytes culture. In addition, supplementation of marine composite COL-SP with WE demonstrated higher decrease of the intracellular ROS production in oxidative stressed HaCaT cells, reduced level of pro-inflammatory cytokines in inflamed human THP-1-derived macrophage cells, and downregulation of matrix metalloproteinases mRNAs expression and secretion level in a HaCaT/THP-1 co-culture. However, WE supplementation did not significantly improve HaCaT migration rate in a scratch assay. All these results highlighted multifunctionality of marine composite COL-SP supplemented with WE and recommend further in vivo testing in relevant wound healing models.