LAUSR

OBJECTIVE Development of Frostbite healing hydrogel of manuka honey and hyaluronic acid. SIGNIFICANCE Frostbite is a cold-induced ischemic vascular injury non-responsive to most of the wound healing products. Thrombus induced ischemia is main cause of frostbite related necrosis. Hyaluronic acid is known to possess significant antithrombotic and wound healing activity. Moreover Manuka Honey is also rich in flavonoids and polyphenols with potential antithrombotic activity. These two agents were together utilized to develop a frostbite healing formulation. METHODS In Silico antithrombotic efficacy of major phytoconstituents of manuka honey was evaluated using in silico- docking studies against Tissue plasminogen activator and Cyclooxigenase-1 protein. Further in-vivo frostbite healing evaluation was carried out in wistar rat, by inducing frostbite with super cooled rod. RESULTS The results indicate that major leptosin and other major phytoconstituent of manuka honey has significant antithrombotic property. The hydrogel formulation of HA and MH possess significant antimicrobial efficacy. The wound contraction studies and histopathological evaluation reveals that the hydrogel also has a good frostbite healing activity showing complete wound healing within 18 day period. The findings of the western blotting studies suggest that the hydrogel acts by VEGF- NRF-2 pathway. CONCLUSION This result implies that the prepared hydrogel can serve as an effective frostbite healing formulation.