Abstract

Natural compounds extracted from marine organisms consisting of biological active materials like collagen provide a major source of compound with medical applications including wound dressing particularly in co-treatment with other natural or synthetic materials to quick the wound healing process. The current study investigates the potential of Rutilus kutum skin-extracted collagen in combination with chitosan collagen-chitosan (Col-CH) gel for in vivo second-degree burn wound healing in rats following finding of the most effective collagen-chitosan ratio. Collagen and chitosan were extracted from R. Kutum skin and shell waste of shrimp, respectively, using acid–base method. SDS-PAGE was performed to determine subunit composition of collagen. After amino acid analysis using HPLC, different ratios of collagen and chitosan mixture (Col-CH, 1:3, 1:1 and 3:1) were prepared to fine the most effective of Col-CH gel on burn wound healing and compare to animals treated with silver sulfadiazine ointment. Wound surface area was analyzed using ImageJ software on days 15 and 30. H&E staining was performed to show the epithelialization, collagen deposition, fibroblast cell accumulation and vessel formation on days 15 and 30. The results from H&E were scored and quantified by pathologist. SDS-PAGE technique revealed that extracted-collagen was type 1 composed of two α (α1 and α2) chains. HPLC showed that Glycine was the most abundant amino acid which included one-third of total amino acid in the skin. The wound surface measurement showed a significant reduction in wound size in animals treated with Col-CH (1:1) compared to silver sulfadiazine treated group at day 25. Histopathological findings represented high score in epithelialization, vessel formation and a decrease in inflammatory cells infiltration in Col-CH (1:1) treated group on days 15 and 30. These data suggest collagen in combination with chitosan with 1:1 ratio can significantly restore burn wound compared to silver sulfadiazine ointment. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V.