Gentiopicroside injection promotes the healing of pressure injury wounds by upregulating the expression of bFGFR1.

Objective: To observe the therapeutic effect of gentiopicroside, as the main component of Gentianaceae, on wounds in pressure injury (PI) model rats and explore its mechanism.

Method: Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and gentiopicroside groups (50, 100 and 200 mg·kg-1·d-1 for 9 consecutive days). The mice's skeletal muscle fibroblast line NOR-10 cells were collected after being treated with gentiopicroside (0.2~5.0 M) and basic fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (bFGFR1) inhibitor (5.0 M SU5402) for 7 days.

Results: Compared to the model group, the gentiopicroside groups showed significantly increased wound healing rates, reduced inflammatory cells in the wound tissues, and significantly increased expression levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and bFGFR1, accompanied by increased proliferation of new myofibroblasts. Gentiopicroside upregulated the mRNA expression of bFGFR1 and PCNA in NOR-10 cells in a dose-dependent manner; however, SU5402 reversed the effect of gentiopicroside.

Conclusion: Gentiopicroside may promote myofibroblast proliferation by upregulating the expression of bFGFR1 and PCNA and ultimately accelerating the healing of PI wounds.