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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1504120
This article is part of the Research Topic Herbal Medicines’ Safety and Clinical Application: New Strategies for Overcoming Therapeutic Challenges View all articles

A Chinese Drug-Compatibility-Based Approach to Purslane Hydrogels for Acute Eczema Therapy

Provisionally accepted
Ling Wang Ling Wang Yuzhong Zhang Yuzhong Zhang Shenglin Geng Shenglin Geng Lan Ma Lan Ma Yiran Wang Yiran Wang Dongxu Han Dongxu Han Guojuan Fan Guojuan Fan Weifen Zhang Weifen Zhang Yanna Lv Yanna Lv Jinlong Ma Jinlong Ma *
  • Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) with heat-clearing and detoxicating, antiinflammatory and resolving swelling, relieving itching and astringing function, has remarkable efficacy for acute eczema. However, most of the clinical applications of purslane are freshly prepared decoction, not as easy to apply as cream, because the decoction is easy to breed bacteria and easy to oxidize. Here, based on the theory of Chinese medicines compatibility, we made a purslane-tannic acid hydrogel (PL-HATA) by simple methods under mild conditions to solve the drawbacks of easy oxidation and inconvenience of use of Purslane. The antimicrobial activity of PL-HATA hydrogel can exert an excellent antimicrobial effect, reducing the flora on the skin of acute eczema and further relieving the symptoms of acute eczema. At the same time, it creates a normal reactive oxygen species (ROS) microenvironment for acute eczema and promotes recovery from acute eczema. It also improves the symptoms of acute eczema by promoting cell proliferation and migration. Importantly, it resulted in improved skin lesion scores, scratching behavior, eosinophil infiltration, swelling and inflammation levels, immune homeostasis, and histopathological changes in rats with acute eczema.Besides, HATA hydrogel is not only suitable for Purslane's decocted metabolites but also for Purslane's freshly squeezed metabolites. This purslane application protocol solved the drawbacks of Purslane's decoction, improved its storage stability and convenience of use, which is the key issue to further promote its clinical application.

    Keywords: Purslane, Eczema, Hydrogels, Tannins, Drug compatibility

    Received: 30 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhang, Geng, Ma, Wang, Han, Fan, Zhang, Lv and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jinlong Ma, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.