Dr Irmgard Merfort from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Freiburg led the study to explain the molecular mechanism behind the wound-healing effect of an extract from the outer white layer of the birch tree's bark; which has been served for centuries as a traditional means of helping the damaged skin around wounds to regenerate more quickly.
Phase one
Merfort and her team explain that in the first phase of wound healing, the damaged skin cells release certain substances that lead to a temporary inflammation.
These then attract phagocytes, which remove foreign bacteria and dead tissue. The Freiburg scientists determined that the birch bark extract, in particular its main ingredient betulin, does in fact temporarily increase the amount of these inflammatory substances.
The natural substance activates proteins that extend the half-life of the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), and triples the time in which the mRNA of a particular messenger remains stable.
This messenger enables more of the protein in question, in this case the inflammatory substances, to be produced. In addition, the birch bark extract and betulin also stabilize the mRNA of further messengers.
Phase two
In the second phase of wound healing, the researchers describe how the skin cells migrate and close the wound.
The birch cork extract aids in this process, as the betulin and lupeol in the substance activate proteins that are involved in the restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton, which gives the cell its shape with the help of the structural protein actin.
In this way, the substances from the birch cause keratinocytes to migrate more quickly into the wound and close it.
Research
The research, although initially for medical purposes, does have relevance in skin care where wound healing and regeneration are well-researched topics.
The findings were published in the journal Plos One. The team cooperated with several other departments and institutes, such as a research group from the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research and the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology of the University of Freiburg as well as a research group from the Dermatological Clinic of the University of Hamburg.