Novel Biomedical Functions of Surfactin A from Bacillus subtilis in Wound Healing Promotion and Scar Inhibition.

: Surfactin produced by Bacillus subtilis is a powerful biosurfactant in food, cosmetics and pesticide industries. However, its suitability in wound healing applications is uncertain. In this article, we identified the effects of surfactin A from B. subtilis on wound healing, angiogenesis, cell migration, inflammatory response, and scar formation. The results indicated that 80.65±2.03 % of surfactin A-treated wounds were closed, whereas 44.30±4.26 % of the vehicle-treated wound areas remained open at day 7 (P＜0.05). In mechanisms, it up-regulated the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), accelerated keratinocyte migration through mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways, and regulated the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and macrophage phenotypic switch. More attractive, surfactin A showed a seductive capability to inhibit scar tissue formation by affecting the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and transforming growth factor (TGF-β). Overall, the study revealed a new function and potential of surfactin A as an affordable and efficient wound healing drug.