Efficacy of frog skin lipids in wound healing

The current study envisages the role of frog skin lipids in the inflammatory phase of wound healing. The lipid moiety of the frog skin dominated by phospholipids exhibited a dose dependent acceleration of healing irrespective of the mode of application. The efficiency of the extract is attributed partially to the anti-inflammatory activity as observed by the histochemical and immunostimulatory together with plethysmographic studies.Thus, frog skin for the first time has been demonstrated to possess lipid components with pharmaceutical and therapeutic potential. The identification and characterization of such natural healing molecules and evaluating their mechanism of action would therefore provide basis for understanding the cues of Nature and hence can be used for application in medicine.Wound healing is a complex phenomenon involving a highly dynamic integrated series of cellular, physiological and biochemical processes. In our search for wound healing mechanisms, a Naga based technique of using frog (Hoplobatrachus sp.) skin was found to be very effective. Acceleration of wound healing by the application of several biological membranes is very common owing to their efficacy in preventing infection and sepsis. However, frog skin plays a complex role in addition to helping in the haemostasis and mechanical protection to wound site as described by Purna Sai et al., [1]. Hence the purification and characterization of the individual constituents of the frog skin and understanding the mechanism of biological activity has been attempted in a sequential manner. Four broad spectrum 11 and 12 residue novel antimicrobial peptides coined tigerinins have been already isolated by Purna Sai et al., [2] and Sitaram et al, [3] from the adrenalin stimulated skin secretions of the Indian frog Rana tigerina. The healing or repair process can be classified into three main overlapping and interrelating phases [4] viz., inflammatory phase involving alteration of capillary permeability,