Effectiveness of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cell medium on burn wound healing: Focus on apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy

The aim of this study is to evaluate the treatment efficacy of Platelet–Rich Plasma (PRP), silver sulfadiazine, and Wharton Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cell–Derived Conditioned Medium (WJ–MSC– CM) on burn wounds using a rat model. The study included four groups, each with 16 rats, and the groups were further divided into two subgroups (n=8) for the 7th and 14th days of the treatment process. Group 1 received no treatment after the burn. Group 2 received PRP (Platelet–Rich Plasma) treatment on the first day after the burn. Group 3 was treated with silver sulfadiazine on the first day after the burn. Group 4 received WJ–MSC–CM on the first day after the burn. In the current study, the expression of Caspase–3, Bcl–2, TNF–α, p21, and Beclin–1 genes among the groups was evaluated by Real–time PCR. The silver sulfadiazine and WJ–MSC–CM treatment groups exhibited lower Bcl–2 expression and higher Caspase–3 and Beclin–1 expression compared to the other groups. TNF–α and p21 expression was high in the burn control group and showed lower expression in the treated groups. The current findings demonstrate that WJ–MSC–CM exhibits healing efficacy on burn wounds comparable to the reference drug (silver sulfadiazine) by inducing apoptosis and autophagy and reducing necroptosis and DNA damage. Additionally, PRP provided some positive benefits compared to the control group but was less effective than the other treatments.