Honey, I Found A Cure! Nature's Healing Agent/ Anti-inflammatory

Overview

Objectives/Goals A scratch wound heal assay using primary human dermal fibroblasts was conducted to determine if using Manuka honey as a topical healing agent promotes faster in vitro wound closure compared to a wound that is left untreated. Methods/Materials All work was conducted in a biosafety hood to prevent contamination. Dual-chambered silicon culture inserts were placed in each well on two 12-well microplates using sterile forceps. Then, 70µl of primary human dermal fibroblasts suspended in DMEM liquid media were dispensed into each well at a concentration of 500,000 cells per chamber. The cells were allowed to grow to confluency in a 37 °C incubator, 5% CO2 for 24 hours. After the incubation period, the culture inserts were removed and specific wells were flooded with Manuka honey solutions at concentrations of .5%, 1% and 2% as well as a control solution, a sugar solution, and a 1% Manuka honey solution that was extracted and replenished at each time interval. Images of each well were taken using an inverted microscope at a 5x magnification at 0,2,4,6,8,12, 24, and 32 hours. Results The results of this experiment show that Manuka honey (MH) at a 1% concentration has a significant effect on cell migration while the 0.5% and 2% concentrations have a minimal effect. The process of cell migration was photographed using a 5x inverted microscope and the images were uploaded to Wimasis Image Analysis software for data quantification. Several T tests were conducted at the time points where there was a significant difference between the cell covered area in trials with the 1% MH and the control. Statistical analysis shows that the 1% MH solution was significantly more effective than the control at the 12 and 24-hour time point. The p-values for these T tests were .0344 and .0157 respectively, which indicates that the superior performance of MH at a 1% concentration in comparison to the control can be confirmed with a 95% confidence interval. Conclusions/Discussion The use of Manuka honey as a topical healing agent promotes faster in vitro cell migration. This study is a continuation of an experiment conducted last year that proved that Manuka honey is also a powerful antibiotic. Further studies will continue to explore the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of Manuka honey as well as its potential for cancer treatment.

Awards (1)

• First Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2015 Microbiology (Medical) (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1604

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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