The wound healing potential of a pro-angiogenic peptide purified from Indian Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) venom.

The cutaneous wound healing property of a pro-angiogenic venom peptide (RVVAP) in a cream-based formulation was evaluated using the excision wound healing model on Wistar strain rats. The wound healing potency and modest antibacterial activity of RVVAP was enhanced significantly (p < 0.05) when combined with Aloe vera extract. RVVAP was also found to be non-toxic at the tested dose of 1.0 mg/kg. Nevertheless, the release of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α in RVVAP-treated mice was suppressed, compared to the untreated controls. This is the first report assessing the wound healing potential of a low-molecular mass, non-enzymatic, pro-angiogenic peptide purified from snake venom.

Dose-dependent neovascularization-promoting effect of adenovirus vector CI-1023 in a rat hindlimb ischaemic model.

CI-1023 (AdGVVEGF121.10) is a replication-deficient adenovirus vector (complete E1a-, partial E1b-, partial E3-) delivering human vascular endothelial growth factor-121 gene. Previous studies from this group have established that CI-1023 can successfully transfer human vascular endothelial growth factor-121 gene resulting in local tissue expression of vascular endothelial growth factor protein. The purpose of this study was to evaluate neovascularization-promoting potency and efficacy of CI-1023 in a wide dose range. In a rat hindlimb ischaemic model, we measured neovascularization-promoting effect of CI-1023 using three end-points: post mortem angiography, immuno-histochemistry and Laser Doppler scanning of tissue blood perfusion. Neovascularization-promoting activity of CI-1023 over the dose range of 4 x 10(6) pu-4 x 10(10) pu was evaluated. Our data demonstrated an obvious dose-dependent effect between 4 x 10(6) pu-4 x 10(8) pu. The neovascularizing effect is somewhat plateaued at the levels between 4 x 10(8) pu and 4 x 10(10) pu. We conclude CI-1023 is a potent neovascularization-promoting compound, with a dose-dependent effect between 4 x 10(6) pu-4 x 10(8) pu in the rat hindlimb ischaemic model.