In vitro Investigation of Wound Healing, Cytotoxic, Antioxidant Properties of Shed Snake Skin (Dolichophis caspius) Aqueous Extract

Year 2026, Volume: 16 Issue: 1, 244 - 255, 23.01.2026

Faruk Başkurt , Ayşegül İnam , Furkan Ozan Çöven , Tülay Öncü Öner

https://doi.org/10.31020/mutftd.1749015

Abstract

Purpose: As cold-blooded reptiles, snakes seasonally shed dead skin cells due to thickening of the skin and removing harmful parasites during growth. Dolichophis caspius is a popularly known snake in Türkiye that sheds its skin at certain times of the year. The focus of this study was to determine the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, as well as the antioxidant activity, of the aqueous extracts of D. caspius shed skin and to investigate the effects of these extracts on cytotoxicity and wound healing.
Method: The shed snake skins were extracted using distilled water. Then, the total phenolic contents, the total flavonoid contents, and the antioxidant activity were evaluated through the Folin-Ciocalteu method, the aluminum-chloride colorimetric assay, and the DPPH method, respectively. The cytotoxic activity was determined by MTT assay and the effect on in vitro wound healing was determined by scratch assay.
Findings: Total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of the extract were calculated as 681±46 µg GAE/g, 442.35±13 µg CE/g, and 13.06%, respectively. IC50 values were determined as 2972±179 µg/mL and 2657±128 µg/mL for dermal fibroblast cells (BJ cell line) and melanoma cells (SK-MEL-30 cell line) in 72 hours. In comparison to the control group, it was found that the extracts at the studied doses do not have effective wound closure rates in BJ cells.
Conclusion: It has been determined that shed snake skins will have promising results in cytotoxicity and wound healing studies thanks to their potentially active biomolecules.

Keywords

Dolichophis caspius , shed snake skin , wound healing , cytotoxicity , antioxidant activity

Supporting Institution

This study was supported by the TUBITAK 2209-A University Students Research Projects with application number 1919B012325139.

Project Number

1919B012325139

Thanks

The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Hikmet Sami Yıldırımhan, a faculty member in the Zoology Department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Bursa Uludağ University, for his work on identifying the species of shed snake skins.

Dökülmüş Yılan Derisi (Dolichophis caspius) Sulu Ekstresinin Yara İyileştirici, Sitotoksik ve Antioksidan Özelliklerinin In Vitro Araştırılması

Abstract

Amaç: Soğukkanlı sürüngenler olan yılanlar, büyüme sırasında derilerinin kalınlaşması ve deri üzerindeki zararlı parazitlerin uzaklaşması amacıyla mevsimsel olarak ölü deri hücrelerini dökerler. Türkiye'de popüler olarak bilinen bir yılan olan Dolichophis caspius yılın belirli zamanlarında deri dökmektedir. Bu çalışmada, dökülmüş D. caspius derisinin sulu ekstraktlarının toplam fenolik ve toplam flavonoid içerikleri ile antioksidan aktivitesinin belirlenmesi ve bu ekstraktların sitotoksisite ve yara iyileşmesi üzerindeki etkilerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır.
Yöntem: Dökülmüş yılan derileri distile su kullanılarak ekstrakte edilmiştir. Toplam fenolik içeriği, toplam flavonoid içeriği ve antioksidan aktivitesi sırasıyla Folin-Ciocalteu yöntemi, alüminyum-klorür kolorimetrik deneyi ve DPPH yöntemi ile değerlendirilmiştir. Sitotoksik aktivite MTT testi ile, in vitro yara iyileşmesi üzerindeki etki çizik testi ile belirlenmiştir.
Bulgular: Ekstraktın toplam fenolik içeriği, toplam flavonoid içeriği ve antioksidan aktivitesi sırasıyla 681±46 µg GAE/g, 442.35±13 µg CE/g ve %13.06 olarak hesaplanmıştır. IC50 değerleri BJ dermal fibroblast hücreleri ve SK-MEL-30 melanoma hücreleri için 72. saatte sırasıyla 2972±179 µg/mL ve 2657±128 µg/mL olarak bulunmuştur. Çalışılan dozlarda BJ hücrelerindeki yara kapanma oranları kontrol grubu ile karşılaştırıldığında ekstraktların yara iyileşmesini hızlandırıcı bir etkiye sahip olmadığı görülmektedir.
Sonuç: Dökülmüş yılan derilerinin barındırdıkları potansiyel aktif biyomoleküller sayesinde sitotoksisite ve yara iyileştirme çalışmalarında umut verici sonuçlar doğuracağı tespit edilmiştir.

Keywords

Dolichophis caspius , dökülmüş yılan derisi , yara iyileşme , sitotoksisite , antioksidan aktivite

Project Number

1919B012325139

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