The Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Hypericum

Chitosan-Alginate Hydrogel Enriched with Hypericum perforatum Callus Extract for Improved Wound Healing and Scar Inhibition

Hypericum perforatum callus contains pluripotent stem cells, and its extract (HPCE) is a natural compound that includes various biologically active components, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, and naphthodiantrons like hypericin and hyperforin. These components give HPCE significant antibacterial and antioxidant properties, making it a valuable option for wound healing. Unlike traditional wound dressings that may leave a residue or necessitate invasive procedures like phototherapy, HPCE is a promising alternative. This study presents a hydrogel wound dressing made from a chitosan/alginate scaffold loaded with HPCE (CA/HPCE). This system displayed remarkable mechanical properties coupled with a high swelling capacity. Moreover, it demonstrated potent antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities, promoting a favorable environment for wound healing. In vitro studies confirmed that our wound dressings effectively inhibited Escherichia coli (E. coli) and drug-resistant bacteria like Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (MR-CoNS). Additionally, CA/HPCE had the potential to significantly augment fibroblast migration. Moreover, in vivo investigations confirmed that this system accelerated re-epithelialization, neovascularization, and collagen deposition while reducing inflammation. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) indicated the absence of hypertrophic scar formation postdressing. These findings suggest that CA/HPCE is a highly effective and innovative solution for advanced wound care.

The potential role of Hypericum perforatum in wound healing: A literature review on the phytochemicals, pharmacological approaches, and mechanistic perspectives

St. John's Wort, commonly known as Hypericum perforatum L., is a flowering plant in the Clusiaceae family that traditionally been employed for treating anxiety, depression, wounds, burns, sunburn, irritation, and stomach ailments. This review provides a synopsis of H. perforatum L. phytoconstituents and their biological effects, highlighting its beneficial therapeutic properties for dermatological indications, as well as its antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-angiogenic activity in various applications including wound healing and skin conditions such as eczema, sun burn and minor burns also spastic paralysis, stiff neck and mood disorders as anti-depressant and nerve pains such as neuralgia. The data were collected from several databases as Web of Science PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar using the terms: "H. perforatum L.", "H. perforatum L. /phytochemistry," and "H. perforatum extracts/wound healing" collected from 1994 to 2023. The findings suggest H. perforatum L. acts through various mechanisms and plays a role in each phase of the wound healing process, including re-epithelialization, angiogenesis, wound contraction, and connective tissue regeneration. H. perforatum L. enhances collagen deposition, decreases inflammation, inhibits fibroblast migration, and promotes epithelialization by increasing the number of fibroblasts with polygonal shape and the number of collagen fibers within fibroblasts. H. Perforatum L. extracts modulate the immune response and reduce inflammation were found to accelerate the wound healing process via inhibition of inflammatory mediators' production like interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, cyclooxygenase-2 gene expression, and inducible nitric oxide synthase. Thus, H. perforatum L. represents a potential remedy for a wide range of dermatological problems, owing to its constituents with beneficial therapeutic properties. H. perforatum L. could be utilized in the development of novel wound healing therapies.

Network Pharmacology of Adaptogens in the Assessment of Their Pleiotropic Therapeutic Activity

The reductionist concept, based on the ligand–receptor interaction, is not a suitable model for adaptogens, and herbal preparations affect multiple physiological functions, revealing polyvalent pharmacological activities, and are traditionally used in many conditions. This review, for the first time, provides a rationale for the pleiotropic therapeutic efficacy of adaptogens based on evidence from recent gene expression studies in target cells and where the network pharmacology and systems biology approaches were applied. The specific molecular targets and adaptive stress response signaling mechanisms involved in nonspecific modes of action of adaptogens are identified.

Acmoxanthones A-E, New Lavandulated Xanthones from Hypericum acmosepalum N. Robson

Acmoxanthones A-E (1-5), five new lavandulylated xanthones, were isolated from the aerial parts of Hypericum acmosepalum, together with four known xanthones. Their structures with absolute configurations were elucidated on the basis of analysis of MS, NMR and chiroptical properties. A bioassay against high glucose-induced damage on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) showed ananixanthone (6) and osajaxanthone (7) had potential antioxidative damage activity with EC₅₀ values of 10.5 μg/mL and 7.6 μg/mL, respectively, while 3-hydroxy-2,4-dimethoxyxanthone (8) exhibited cytotoxic effect on the damaged cells with IC₅₀ values of 7.1 μg/mL.

Determination of Potential Drug Candidate Molecules of the Hypericum perforatum for COVID-19 Treatment

The novel human coronavirus was firstly emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has spread rapidly around the world. There is no known specific effective treatment of COVID-19. The most commonly used agents against this disease both in Turkey and around the world include chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, favipiravir, and remdesivir. In the study, we investigated the drug potential of molecules that the components of an important medicinal plant Hypericum perforatum by using molecular docking and drug possibility properties of these molecules. The molecular docking results showed that the most stable complex was obtained with COVID-19 main protease and hypericin/isohypericin ligands with − 11 kcal/mol binding energy. Furthermore, ADMET, drug-likeness features of compounds of H. perforatum were investigated using the rules of Lipinski, Veber, and Ghose. According to the results obtained, it has been shown that H. perforatum has the potential to be an effective drug in the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next stage, it is necessary to carry out the clinically necessary reliability studies of these components. It is thought that it can be used for the treatment of COVID-19 if our molecular docking results are found to be in high correlation with clinical studies.