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Review
. 2023 Feb 14;13(2):276.
doi: 10.3390/metabo13020276.

Centella asiatica and Its Metabolite Asiatic Acid: Wound Healing Effects and Therapeutic Potential

Lúcio Ricardo Leite Diniz  1 , Leonardo Luiz Calado  1 , Allana Brunna Sucupira Duarte  2 , Damião Pergentino de Sousa  2
Affiliations
Review

Centella asiatica and Its Metabolite Asiatic Acid: Wound Healing Effects and Therapeutic Potential

Lúcio Ricardo Leite Diniz et al. Metabolites. .

Abstract

An intense effort has been focused on new therapeutic approaches and the development of technologies for more efficient and rapid wound healing. The research for plants used for long time in traditional medicine in the treatment of wound has become a promising strategy to obtain drugs therapeutically useful in the acute and chronic wound management. In this context, Centella asiatica (Apiaceae) has been used to treat a variety of skin diseases, such as leprosy, lupus, varicose ulcers, eczema and psoriasis, in Asiatic traditional medicine for thousands of years. Studies have shown that Centella asiatica extracts (CAE) display activity in tissue regeneration, cell migration and wound repair process by promoting fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis. Preliminary findings have shown that the asiatic acid is one of the main active constituents of C. asiatica, directly associated with its healing activity. Thus, this study discusses aspects of the effects of Centella asiatica and its active component, asiatic acid, in different stages of the healing process of cutaneous wounds, including phytochemical and antimicrobial aspects that contribute to its therapeutic potential.

Keywords: Apiaceae; anti-inflammatory activity; antimicrobial action; cicatrization; medicinal plant; natural products; phytotherapy; scar; terpene.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of asiatic acid.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Centella asiatica extract (CAE) and its bioactive constituent, asiatic acid (Aa) display a decrease in the wound area and faster healing by increasing collagen synthesis, and cellular proliferation, fibroblast division and re-epithelialization during proliferative and remodeling phases of wound healing. CAE and Aa also act in the inflammatory phase by inhibiting recruitment of immune defense cells, reducing synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, and and IL-1β) and growth factors (TGF-β, PDGF and VEGF). Moreover, Aa inhibits the increase of serum levels of IL-17/IL-23. This figure was created with Adobe Illustrator.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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