Study on the Effect of Qiai Essential Oil Promotes the Healing of Infectious Skin Wounds by Activating the PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of Qiai (Artemisia argyi Levl.et Van.var.argyi cv.Qiai) essential oil on the healing of infected skin wounds and explore its mechanism.

METHODS 30 Kunming mice were randomly divided into five equal groups: blank control group, substrate group, positive control group (3 mL·kg^-1 Mupirocin ointment), low-dose group (each patch containing 7.3 mg of Qiai essential oil), and high-dose group (each patch containing 57.6 mg of Qiai essential oil).After anesthesia, a 10 mm full-thickness circular skin wound was created on the back of each mouse.Following hemostasis, 100 μL of Staphylococcus aureus bacterial solution (1.5×10⁸ CFU·mL^-1) was applied to the wound.The wounds in each group were treated in the aforementioned manner, the dressing was changed daily, and the healing of the skin wound was observed.On the 12th day post-surgery, the mice were euthanized and the skin around the wounds was collected for HE and Masson staining to observe pathological features; qPCR and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of genes related to wound healing (Col1a1, Col3a1, Fn1, VEGFA), inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α), and the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in the wound skin tissue.Further, in NIH-3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts, the potential impact of Artemisia argyi volatile oil on PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activity was investigated using the PI3K inhibitor PI-103.

RESULTS Animal experiments have shown that compared to the blank control group, the relative wound area in both the low-dose and high-dose groups significantly decreased; the infiltration of inflammatory cells in the wound tissues reduced, while the expression of collagen fibers increased; qPCR showed that, compared to the blank control group, the expression of VEGFA, Col3a1, and Col1a1 in the low-dose and high-dose groups significantly increased, while the expression of inflammatory factors IL-1β and TNF-α decreased; further Western blotting revealed that compared to the blank control group, both the phosphorylated PI3K/total PI3K ratio and the phosphorylated Akt/total Akt ratio in the low-dose and high-dose groups significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner.Cellular experimental results also confirmed that the volatile oil from Artemisia argyi exerts a regulatory effect on the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in NIH-3T3 cells.

CONCLUSION The essential oil of Qiai can promote wound healing, with its mechanism possibly involving the activation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, suppression of inflammatory factor expression, and promotion of collagen expression.