156 | Thinned apple polyphenols extract improves skin wound healing by regulating oxidant, angiogenic and fibrotic markers

Regina Aparo¹, Ramona D’Amico², Rosalba Siracusa¹, Giancarlo Aldini³, Daniela Impellizzeri¹ | ¹Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Italy; ²Department of Medicine and Surgery, “Kore” University of Enna, Italy; ³Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences DISFARM, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.

Wound healing (WH) is an important physiological process that maintains the integrity of skin after trauma. In diabetic patients, skin’s healing is retarded because all stages of WH are altered, including angiogenesis and reepithelialization. Thus, new therapeutic alternatives aimed to restore of skin integrity are required. Apples, thanks to the polyphenol fraction, exert a protective action in some human diseases including diabetes. Thinned young apples (a massive waste product of apple cultivation) are particularly rich in polyphenols, more than 10-fold with respect to harvested apples. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the beneficial proprieties of thinned apple polyphenols (TAP) extract in a model of WH in diabetic e non-diabetic mice. Two full‐thickness excisional wounds were generated on the dorsum of mice and TAP extract (10 mg/kg, o.s.) was administered for 7 days in non-diabetic and diabetic mice. Our results demonstrated that TAP extract was able to accelerate skin WH, induce the maturation of new collagen (Masson trichrome staining), downregulating metalloproteinases in both groups treated. Additionally, TAP extract administrations ameliorated dysfunction of endothelial and angiogenic process (eNOS and VEGF) and induced Nrf2 activation and the up-regulation of HO-1 and SOD. These results suggest that TAP extract was able to accelerate wound closure equally in non-diabetic and diabetic mice, despite a worse base-line condition induced by hyperglycemia.