A Novel Class of Compounds with Cutaneous Wound Healing Properties

Impaired wound healing is a major complication underlying several disease processes (such as diabetes). Efficient wound healing is hampered by a wide variety of processes including hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), inflammation, infection, and oxidative stress through the generation of harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS). The inherent complexity of the healing wound has resulted in limited efficacy of most therapies that target single parameters involved in the slow healing processes. Fullerenes are carbon nanospheres previously shown to exhibit a wide range of biological activities. Given that these molecules have been shown to be potent anti-inflammatories and antioxidants we hypothesized that fullerenes could aid in wound healing based on these properties. We designed and synthesized a panel of fullerene derivatives and investigated their ability to accelerate wound healing using a modified scratch assay, an ex vivo human skin model, and a mouse model of skin irritation. Several derivatives supported cell migration, induced wound closure in human skin explants, and greatly accelerated the rate at which wound healing occurred in vivo. Therefore, fullerene derivatives represent a potential new class of wound healing therapies that may aid in wound healing treatment.