Honey, a Gift from Nature to Health and Beauty: A Review

Benefits of honey are contributed by the composition of its elements such as glucose, fructose, glucose oxidase, vitamins and phenolic compounds. For health, honey can be used to treat wounds due to the antibacterial activity conferred by the hydrogen peroxide produced by glucose oxidase in honey. Anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, deodorizing and tissue regeneration activities in honey also help in the wound healing process. It can also be an alternative sweetener for diabetic patients to ensure compliance to a healthy diet. Moreover, honey exerts several effects such as lowering low density lipids and increasing high density lipids, thus reducing risk of atherosclerosis. In terms of beauty, honey can be used on skin and hair. It moisturizes skin through its natural humectant properties contributed by high contents of fructose and glucose. Honey treats acne on the skin due to its antibacterial activity, anti-inflammatory action and tissue repair. The hair can benefit from honey in such a way that the hair has abundance, and becomes easier to comb. However, there have not been as many studies regarding the use of honey in skin in comparison to its use for health. Therefore, future studies on honey could research its use, action and benefits in both cosmetics and dermatology

Flavonoid Oligoglycosides from Ophioglossum vulgatum L. Having Wound Healing Properties

Two new glycosylated and acylated flavonols, viz. quercetin-3-O-[(6-caffeoyl)-\u3b2-glucopyranosyl (1\u21923)\u3b1-rhamnopyranoside]-7-O-\u3b1-rhamnopyranoside (2), and kaempferol-3-O-[(6-caffeoyl)-\u3b2-glucopyranosyl (1\u21923)\u3b1-rhamnopyranoside]-7-O-\u3b1-rhamnopyranoside (3), together with the known quercetin-3-O-methyl ether (1), were isolated from the aerial parts of the fern Ophioglossum vulgatum L. Their structures were established by means of 1D and 2D NMR spectra, as well as ESI\u2011MS and ESI-HRMS spectra. Compounds 1\u20133 were all found to be active in scratch-wound healing assays on keratinocytes, with 3 being the most active one and showing maximum activity at 20 \u3bcM

POLYPHENOL MODIFIED POLYLACTIC ACID SPONGES WITH IMPROVED OSTEOGENIC PROPERTIES

The search for new materials and innovative scaffolds to improve cell adhesion and accelerate tissue regeneration for applications in wound healing and bone repair has received increasing interest.1 We report the synthesis and characterization of biodegradable, bioresorbable scaffolds based on polylactic acid (PLA) that can act as temporary extracellular matrix and bear surface modification with polyphenols suitable to promote a general amelioration of the healing processes. Natural phenolic antioxidants including resveratrol2 and green tea catechins3 have been recently investigated in tissue engineering as promoters of osteoblast differentiations. Polyphenol polymers, namely polytyrosol or polyCAME, 4 were prepared in good yields by biomimetic oxidation of naturally occurring compounds like tyrosol and caffeic acid ester, were subjected to structural characterization and shown to possess an antioxidant action of potential relevance to tissue healing. Expected advantages with respect to the monomers include greater chemical stability and lower tendency to be released from the scaffold into the contact medium. PLA sponge-like 3D-scaffolds were obtained by freeze drying of tetrahydrofuran solution of PLA/polyphenol and the extent of polyphenol incorporation (3 to 10%) was determined by spectrophotometric/ HPLC analyses. The composites show no toxicity toward human osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells, enhancement of ALP activity and packing efficiency of the osteoblasts compared to the scaffold not containing the polyphenol

Powering tyrosol antioxidant capacity and osteogenic activity by biocatalytic polymerization

Oxidative polymerization of tyrosol by horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-H2O2 afforded an insoluble product (oligotyrosol, OligoTyr) consisting of mixture of linear oligomers (up to 11-mer) with limited benzylic branching points, as evidenced by ESI-MS and solid state C-13 NMR analysis. OligoTyr proved to be significantly more active than tyrosol in several antioxidant assays and was not toxic to human osteosarcoma SaOS-2 cells, stimulating alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity at day 7 in a similar manner as tyrosol. However, when loaded at 5% w/w into highly porous polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds featuring hierarchical structures, OligoTyr caused a significant increase in the ALP activity of SaOS-2 cells compared to PLA alone, while tyrosol was completely inactive. A release of ca. 5% from PLA was determined after 1 week in a physiological medium. No significant influence on calcium release from PLA scaffolds containing 5% beta-tricalcium phosphate was observed