Evaluation of burn wound healing activity of thermosensitive gel and PLGA nanoparticle formulation of quercetin in Wistar albino rats

Modern burn treatments with gene therapy, stem cells and healing factors are highly cost and not always possible to access these treatments. For this reason, new effective treatment approaches should have easy accessibility. Recent studies have shown that quercetin, a flavonoid, has a wound-healing effect. However, quercetin has low water solubility and cannot uptake into cells sufficiently. To overcome these disadvantages quercetin nanoparticle and thermosensitive gel formulations appear to be potential alternatives. In this study, to compare the efficacy of quercetin-loaded PLGA nanoparticle with quercetin-loaded pluronic thermosensitive gel formulations, nanoparticle and thermosensitive gel formulations were developed, characterized and evaluated in the burn model. Biochemical analysis has been performed to investigate the effects of formulations on such as growth factors and some cytokines that are effective in wound healing process. Finally, histopathological analyzes has been performed to evaluate the presence and density of granulation tissue, inflammation and fibrosis. Encapsulation efficiency (EE) of nanoparticles was found 25 ± 5%. It is indicating that during the preparation of PLGA nanoparticles, there is more quercetin lost than preparation process of gel. Also quercetin release from PLGA nanoparticles is limited when compared with gel formulation of quercetin. PLGA nanoparticles and thermosensitive gel formulations are effective when compared with quercetin solution and Silverdin®. Considering the cost of PLGA polymer, EE and efficacy results it was concluded that pluronic thermosensitive gel formulations could be a cost-effective option for burn wound therapy.