Ural Federal University: Scientists Synthesized a Substance for Wound Healing Ointments

Chemists and biologists of the Ural Federal University synthesized a substance for regeneration of damaged skin and studied its effect. Preclinical studies showed that the ointment based on it turned out to be more effective than foreign analogues: the healing process with the new drug is faster.

“First of all, we tested the wound-healing effect. Linear wounds (the model of ordinary cuts or postoperative effects) healed better with our drug. At the same time the healing proceeded with less inflammation in the wound area, the wound surface closed faster. The stimulating effect of the substance on the cells resulted in a shorter restoration of normal skin structure without hard scars. Usually after cuts scars remain on the surface of the skin. In animals that we treated with our drug, they were less noticeable than, for example, in those who were smeared with Solcoseril, a popular wound-healing ointment,” says Sergey Khatsko, head of the Experimental Laboratory of Anatomy and Physiology of the Ural Federal University, about the results of the experiments.

A new active substance that stimulates human skin cells is a heterocyclic compound of the triazolothiadiazine class. The main effect of the substance is on fibroblasts – connective tissue cells that actively synthesize collagen during the healing process and the formation of a new skin layer at the site of the wound. The ointment based on the new active substance is simple in composition and in addition to it includes only dimethoxide – a solvent for the compound, which improves the penetrating properties of the drug, and the ointment base – petroleum jelly or lanolin.

“Solcoseryl is based on petroleum jelly, so we took petroleum jelly as a base for a clean comparison of the effect. We evaluated the effect of the drug using four groups of laboratory rats. The first group was untreated, the wounds of the animals of the second group we smeared with pure petroleum jelly with dimethoxide to find out how the wound healing process would proceed without the active ingredient. The third group had our drug applied to the wound, and the fourth group was treated with Solcoseryl. The drug shows excellent results in skin regeneration already on the seventh day after the start of treatment, while it reduces inflammation and promotes rapid closure of the wound surface,” explains Irina Petrova, senior lecturer of the Faculty of Biology and Fundamental Medicine at the Ural Federal University.

Scientists have been working on a wound-healing ointment for more than three years. The first research results were published back in 2019. Now the scientists have completed all studies and are patenting the method of obtaining the ointment and the use of the active substance for its further use as the basis of wound-healing medicines. Soon, the research team plans to publish the results of preclinical studies on the anti-burn effectiveness of the substance in comparison to Panthenol, a popular German drug for treating burns.