In-silico prediction of role of chitosan, chondroitin sulphate and agar in process of wound healing towards scaffold development

Abstract

Natural extracts obtained from medicinal plants have proved to be useful for their wound healing properties. The aim of this study was to identify and validate the role of commonly used adjuvant compounds in preparing scaffolds using bioinformatics analysis methods. Compounds under investigation included chitosan, chondroitin sulphate and agar. Primary information on candidate compounds were retrieved from PubChem database and their skin sensitization potentials were evaluated. Their various interacting molecules and targets were identified using target prediction tools. Subsequently, functional roles of each of the targets were validated from UniProt database. The results revealed that all the three adjuvant compounds possess relevant target molecules, though the interaction seems to be weak. The corresponding functional analysis portrayed that they specifically contribute in promoting wound healing process. Hence these results validate the use of adjuvants in developing scaffolds. Moreover, this study also provides insights into novel strategies for bioinformatics analysis of role of scaffold components.

Keywords

• Chitosan
• Chondroitin sulphate
• Agar
• PubChem
• Skin sensitization
• Swiss target prediction