Abstract
Aphthous ulcers are very common disorders among different age groups and are very noxious and painful. The incidence of aphthous ulcer recurrence is very high and it may even last for a maximum of 6 days and usually, patients cannot stand its pain. This study aims to prepare a buccoadhesive fast dissolving film containing
Corchorus olitorius
seed extract to treat recurrent minor aphthous ulceration (RMAU) in addition to clinical experiments on human volunteers. An excision wound model was used to assess the in vivo wound healing potential of
Corchorus olitorius
L. seed extract, with a focus on wound healing molecular targets such as TGF-, TNF-, and IL-1. In addition, metabolomic profiling using HR-LCMS for the crude extract of
Corchorus olitorius
seeds was explored. Moreover, molecular docking experiments were performed to elucidate the binding confirmation of the isolated compounds with three molecular targets (
TNF-α
,
IL-1β
, and
GSK3
). Additionally, the in vitro antioxidant potential of
C. olitorius
seed extract using both H
2
O
2
and superoxide radical scavenging activity was examined. Clinical experiments on human volunteers revealed the efficiency of the prepared
C. olitorius
seeds buccal fast dissolving film (CoBFDF) in relieving pain and wound healing of RMAU. Moreover, the wound healing results revealed that
C. olitorius
seed extract enhanced wound closure rates (
p
≤ 0.001), elevated
TGF-β
levels and significantly downregulated
TNF-α
and
IL-1β
in comparison to the Mebo-treated group. The phenotypical results were supported by biochemical and histopathological findings, while metabolomic profiling using HR-LCMS for the crude extract of
Corchorus olitorius
seeds yielded a total of 21 compounds belonging to diverse chemical classes. Finally, this study highlights the potential of
C. olitorius
seed extract in wound repair uncovering the most probable mechanisms of action using in silico analysis.