Sadaf Azad Raja, Saiqa Andleeb, Zeerish Faisal, Marwa Naeem, Sana Javed, Nadia Gillani, Sumathi Jones, Daratu Eviana Kusuma Putri, Soundar Rajan Kulandhaivel, Soon Woong Chang, Balasubramani Ravindran, Jesudass Joseph Sahayarayan
Purpose: The wound healing is an innate physiological process that begins in response to tissue injury. Natural healing is crucial in bacterial infections, however, poor oxygenation and disruption in cellular remodeling and proliferation result in prolonged inflammatory response. Our current approach is to prepare a natural antiseptic wound-dressing for accelerating the healing process. Methods: In this study, Ovalbumin and Bovine Serum Albumin based hydrogels with Ajuga bracteosa extract was prepared in three different ratios. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were performed for initial characterization of the prepared ovalbumin and bovine serum albumin-based hydrogels. The antibacterial assay was performed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli to inspect antiseptics. To investigate the growth of cell, cell viability (MTT) was assessed using HaCaT cells treated over 48 h with 50 µL of each hydrogel formulation. In-silico docking analysis was performed to infer the active binding of the ligands from the plant extract and the albumins to further extend the study using active binding sites. Results: The absorption spectrum of both the hydrogels has indicated shifts in the peaks (230 nm) formed by the mixtures that imply the interactions between plant extract and both the albumins. OVA-hydrogel has significantly inhibited the growth of the selected pathogens. Ovalbumin-hydrogel was significantly effective against the three pathogens at the concentration of 1:1 of the hydrogel composite ((P. aeruginosa 12.2 ± 0.2 mm), (S. aureus 17.7 ± 1.6 mm), and (E. coli 18.3 ± 0.4 mm)) compared to BSA hydrogel (8.1 ± 0.2 mm, 15.4 ± 0.4 mm, and 17.03 ± 0.1 mm respectively). Cytotoxicity assay (MTT) results in HaCaT cells treated with Ovalbumin-based hydrogel indicated the cells viability and accelerated wound closure (P < 0.0001****) compared to Bovine Serum Albumin based-hydrogel (P = 0.01**) at 48 h. the growth rate was found significantly faster in OVAH-treated cells (P < 0.0001****) relative to BSAH (P = 0.0128). Molecular docking analysis revealed that Deacetylajugarin IV and Ergosterol exhibited high binding affinities with bovine serum albumin (− 7.8 and − 9.5 kcal/mol) and moderate binding affinities with ovalbumin (− 6.2 and − 6.8 kcal/mol), suggesting effective ligand availability and active release at the wound site. Swiss-ADME analysis indicated the Deacetylajugarin IV meets the drug-likeness criteria and demonstrate favorable pharmacokinetic properties. Conclusion: The ovalbumin-based hydrogel demonstrated significant antibacterial efficacy and enhanced wound healing potential by promoting keratinocyte proliferation and tissue regeneration indicating its promising natural and effective antiseptic wound dressing. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2026.
Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan; Microbial Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir,King Abdullah Campus, Chattar Kalas, Muzaffarabad, 13100, Pakistan; Department of Pharmacology, Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, Pallikaranai, 600 100, India; Départemen Kimia, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam, State University of Malang, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Department of Bioinformatics, Alagappa University, Tamilnadu, Karaikudi, 630003, India; Department of Civil & Energy System Engineering, Kyonggi University, Gyeonggi-Do, Suwon, 16227, South Korea; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Arts Science Commerce and Management, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, India
