RESUMO
(1) Background: Cardiotonic steroids have been found to stimulate collagen synthesis and might be potential wound healing therapeutics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of digitoxigenin and its topical formulation for wound healing; (2) Methods: In the in vitro study, the human dermal fibroblast cells were treated with digitoxigenin and collagen synthesis was assessed. In the in vivo study, digitoxigenin was applied to excisional full-thickness wounds in rats immediately after wounding and remained for three days, and wound open was evaluated over 10 days. A digitoxigenin formulation for topical administration was prepared, and the in vitro release and in vivo wound healing effect were investigated; (3) Results: The expression of procollagen in human dermal fibroblast was significantly increased with the exposure to 0.1 nM digitoxigenin. Topical application of digitoxigenin in olive oil or alginate solution for three days significantly decreased the wound open in rats. Similarly, topical administration of the developed digitoxigenin formulation for three days also significantly increased wound healing. No wound healing effects were observed at days 7 and 10 after wounding when digitoxigenin was not applied; and, (4) Conclusions: It was possible to deliver digitoxigenin using the developed formulation. However, the wound healing effect of digitoxigenin and its mechanisms need to be further investigated in future studies.
RESUMO
An LC-MS/MS method was developed for the determination of digitoxigenin in mice skin samples. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column. Mass spectrometric detection was achieved by a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an ESI interface operating in a positive ionization mode. Quantification was performed using selective reaction monitoring of the precursor-product ion transitions of m/z 375.5â339 for digitoxigenin and m/z 391.5â337 for internal standard (IS). The calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 1.00-500ng/mL. The intra- and inter-batch precision was no more than 10.6% of the coefficient of variation and the accuracy was within ±8.1% of the actual values. This validated method has been successfully applied to skin permeation and skin metabolic stability studies of digitoxigenin in mice. The steady-state flux and lag time of digitoxigenin permeated across the full-thickness mice skin were 1.86±0.45µg/cm2/h and 0.46±0.18h, respectively. The metabolism of digitoxigenin in the skin was not detected in our study.