Time-and dose-dependent effects of centela asiatica ethanolic extract encapsulated into chitosan nanoparticles on collagen III synthesis and proliferation in human dermal fibroblasts

Natural aging process comes with the decline of skin cells renewal and collagen III production. Centella asiatica L. (CA) extracts are natural products which were shown to promote fibroblast proliferation during wound healing. Inthis study, we evaluated therapeutic potential of ethanolic CA extract (CAEE) when encapsulated into chitosan nanoparticles (CNP) by ionotropic gelation. Effects of CAEE-loaded CNP (CAEE+CNP) on the proliferation rate and collagen III synthesis of human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) were evaluated and compared against un-encapsulated CAEE. Proliferation rate of HDF was assessed with 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT assay), while ELISA was performed to evaluate Collagen III synthesis after 24, 48, or 72 hours incubation. For 24h incubation period, CAEE+CNP stimulates significantly greater HDF proliferation than CAEE alone. Moreover, in general we observed higher proliferation rate and collagen III synthesis on fibroblasts stimulated with CAEE+CNP as compared to CAEE alone. Thus, nano-encapsulation is important to maximize therapeutic potential of CAEE. In the future, the proposed formulation of CAEE-loaded CNP may be explored further as effective herbal agents in dermacosmetics for wound healing and anti-aging.