By Muhammad Basir Roslan
KUALA LUMPUR: Recovery from a third-degree burn, the most severe form of burn damage commonly known as full-thickness burn, usually takes weeks to heal.
Third-degree burns penetrate all layers of the skin, so the damage they cause can be extensive, and recovery is typically a long and challenging process.
Besides that, the patient has to go for regular visits to the hospital for cleansing and changing the wound dressing as there is no alternative treatment for such procedure to be undertaken at home.
However, a group of researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) could potentially change the situation with their research breakthrough in wound dressing which can promote growth in skin cells within a short period with biocompatibility – without having toxic or injurious effects on biological systems – characteristics.
In an interview with Bernama, Dr Nusaibah Sallehuddin who led the research said its findings revealed that the product, which uses habbatus sauda or black cumin seed, is expected to be the first of its kind in Malaysia once it passes the clinical tests.
Inspired from hadis
Sharing its research, Dr Nusaibah said habbatus sauda is rich in thymoquinone, which has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. This compound is attributed to its medical uses as an antimicrobial agent and has an important role in defence against infection and other harmful biological agents.
“This substance is also able to prevent the development of oxidative stress, which could otherwise slow down the wound healing process. Besides that, thymoquinone has anti-inflammatory properties which help reduce pain and inflammation due to injury and serves as angiogenesis, which helps the body heal from wounds and promotes blood vessel growth,” she explained.
According to Dr Nusaibah, she chose habbatus sauda in the study as the herb is clearly stated in the hadis (a collection of sayings and actions attributed to Prophet Muhammad) as a cure for all illnesses.
“As a Muslim and based on the hadis, the potential for further studies is enormous with many benefits to be derived from the habbatus sauda.
“Furthermore, I find that there is still no wound dressing product that uses this plant as a main ingredient. Available in the market are mainly oral medication, ointments, etc,” she said.
She said that besides habbatus sauda, the wound dressing product contains other ingredients such as elastin and animal-based collagen and gelatine.
Elastin is a natural protein which confers elasticity and resilience to various tissues and organs including the skin that has been damaged by injury, while collagen and gelatin serve to reduce inflammation after their use.
“From our study, the use of this wound dressing does not cause any toxicity on the dermal (skin) fibroblast cells. Besides that, the skin cells show continuous process of regeneration. We expect the full thickness wound (up to the bones) can be healed and the edges of the wound closed and fit neatly together within 4-7 days depending on the size of the wound compared to treatment at the hospital which takes a longer time,” she said.
According to Dr Nusaibah, the study is currently in the in-vivo analysis stage (involving an experiment on mice).
“If the study shows optimum results, we can continue with the clinical test phase and we will be able to market it to consumers,” she said, adding that the product is targeted for direct sale to consumers without going to the hospital.
Challenges
Dr Nusaibah who is also a researcher at the Centre for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (CTERM), Hospital UKM, said the wound dressing produced by the team is an improvement to MyDerm, which is a collagen-based skin substitute for repair of skin loss developed by CTERM in 2013.
However, MyDerm has its constraints, among others, it has to be cultured and produced at the laboratory using cells from patients, she said.
“Although recovery was encouraging based on clinical tests, various lengthy processes were involved to produce the skin substitute,” she added.
However, the new wound dressing produced only requires only three liquids as the main ingredients and are mixed in the beaker before they are moulded into round or square shapes of various sizes based on suitability.
The dressing has several characteristics such as fireproof, pressure-resistant and biodegradable, which allows the dressing to degrade on its own once the injury is healed,” she said, adding that no synthetic material such as plastic is used as it would be difficult to remove once it is stuck on the skin.
“Indeed, there were many challenges faced at the onset of the study in 2019. It took us nearly one year to produce the formula alone. However, with the assistance of my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi Mh Busra, we managed to achieve the best ratio to produce the wound dressing,” she said, adding that she has also submitted an application for a copyright for the product with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO).
She said that the product, which is targeted for mass production, is expected to be made available to consumers within 5-7 years’ time, subject to the clinical tests to be undertaken soon.
The study entitled ‘Fabrication and Evaluation of Thymoquinone Incorporated Collagen-Gelatin-Elastin Acellular Skin Substitute Potentially Use in Full-Thickness Skin Wound’ which was part of her Master’s programme, also saw Dr Nusaibah being awarded the Masters Gold Award (Science, Technology & Health) UKM recently. – BERNAMA
