Wound Healing Effects of Aloe muth-muth: In Vitro Investigations Using Immortalized Human Keratinocytes (HaCaT)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Aloe muth-muth is a cross-bred species cultivated from the well-known Aloe plants, namely Aloe vera and Aloe ferox through forced pollination. Considering that Aloe plants were traditionally widely used for treatment of wounds and skin lesions, Aloe muth-muth was also thought to have possible wound healing properties. Therefore, this study tested the ability of parts from the Aloe muth-muth plant to improve the closure of wounds induced in human skin cell layers grown in an incubator in a laboratory. Both the whole leave material and the inner gel-like part of this plant were tested for wound healing properties. It was found that the Aloe muth-muth gel part taken from the leaves possesses very high wound healing activity and can possibly be used in future wound treatments. ABSTRACT: The traditional use of Aloe spp. for the purpose of wound healing has a long history and is widespread internationally. Recently, a hybrid aloe plant (Aloe muth-muth) has been cultivated by cross pollination between Aloe vera and Aloe ferox. The Aloe muth-muth plant has not yet been investigated for medicinal properties and provides an opportunity for potential biological activity, including wound healing. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro wound healing effects of both Aloe muth-muth gel and whole leaf material with the use of the immortalized human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cell line. Cell viability was conducted using methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assays. In vitro wound healing was tested on HaCaT cells using an established scratch assay method. The effect of Aloe muth-muth gel material on HaCaT cell migration was also investigated. Aloe muth-muth gel material exhibited statistically significantly (p < 0.05) higher percentage wound closure compared to the control at all three concentrations investigated. These findings confirm that this newly cultivated species, Aloe muth-muth, also possesses wound healing activity corresponding to that reported for the two species it is derived from, namely, Aloe vera and Aloe ferox. Therefore, Aloe muth-muth has the potential to be used in future wound therapeutics.