Plant-derived medicinal materials have significant potential and promising applications in wound healing and skin regeneration. This study aims to develop a plant-based extract hydrogel from Bletilla striata (Thunb.Reichb.f.), specifically a glucosyloxybenzyl 2-isobutylmalates extract (B), and characterize its potential effects on wound healing. We synthesized the hydrogel using carbomer (C), glycerol (G), and triethanolamine (T) as the matrix, incorporating B into the hydrogel base, and evaluated its physical and chemical properties. In vitro tests assessed the biocompatibility of the glucosyloxybenzyl 2-isobutylmalates-carbomer-glycerol-triethanolamine (B-CGT) hydrogel and its effects on cell proliferation, migration, and adhesion. Animal model experiments evaluated its potential to promote wound healing. The results showed that the prepared B-CGT hydrogel possessed a good three-dimensional network structure and stability, demonstrating significant free radical scavenging capacity in antioxidant tests. In cell experiments, the B-CGT hydrogel exhibited no potential cytotoxicity and showed good hemocompatibility and promotion of cell proliferation. Animal experiments indicated that wounds treated with the B-CGT hydrogel healed significantly faster, with improved formation of new epithelial tissue and collagen. This study suggests that the developed B-CGT hydrogel is a promising candidate for wound dressings, with excellent physicochemical properties and controlled drug release capabilities, effectively promoting the wound healing process.

Diabetic wound healing presents significant challenges due to impaired angiogenesis, chronic inflammation, and cellular dysfunction. Building on previous research, this study further explores the potential of a plant-derived glucosyloxybenzyl 2-isobutylmalates (B-CGT) hydrogel in promoting diabetic wound healing. Network pharmacology and molecular docking analyses suggest that B-CGT may regulate key mechanisms, such as apoptosis, inflammation, and matrix remodeling, through core targets including SIRT1, CASP8, and MMP8. In vivo studies further demonstrated that B-CGT hydrogel significantly accelerated wound closure in diabetic mice, enhanced angiogenesis, promoted collagen deposition, and achieved immune balance by modulating macrophage polarization, thereby shifting the inflammatory environment toward a repair state. Moreover, B-CGT hydrogel significantly improved the wound microenvironment by upregulating VEGF expression and exerting antioxidant effects. By combining theoretical predictions with experimental validation, this study elucidates the multi-target synergistic regulatory mechanisms of B-CGT hydrogel. These findings provide new research directions for addressing immune imbalance and angiogenesis defects in diabetic wound healing and lay a scientific foundation for the optimization and application of chronic wound treatment strategies.

Drought severely restricts the growth and secondary metabolism of medicinal plants. Blumea balsamifera is a water-sensitive and economically important medicinal species, yet its molecular regulatory mechanisms in response to drought remain largely unclear, which is worthy of in-depth investigation. In this study, four-month-old B. balsamifera seedlings were subjected to three treatments; normal irrigation (CK), drought stress (DS), and rehydration recovery (RW). Leaf photosynthetic parameters, L-Borneol content, and root physiological indices were determined, and transcriptomic and proteomic analyses were integrated to explore its drought response mechanism. Under drought stress, leaf net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance decreased sharply, while intercellular CO₂ concentration increased; L-Borneol content showed a biphasic change, and root malondialdehyde content accumulated continuously, accompanied by significant increases in antioxidant enzyme activities and osmotic regulator contents. A total of 9917 differentially expressed genes and 736 differentially expressed proteins were identified, which were mainly enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, photosynthesis and other pathways, with photosynthesis-related genes and proteins coordinately downregulated. B. balsamifera adapts to drought stress by activating the antioxidant defense system, regulating osmotic substances, and reprogramming photosynthetic networks. The key candidate genes obtained provide important targets for drought-tolerant breeding of this species, and their reliability was verified by RT-qPCR.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease in which persistent synovitis drives interconnected cartilage degradation, bone erosion, and functional decline. Conventional synthetic, biologic, and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) remain the foundation of RA management. Hydrogel-based local therapy should therefore be positioned as an adjunct for selected joints rather than as a substitute for systemic disease control. Hydrogels provide a versatile local materials platform because their injectability, tunable crosslinking, tissue retention, stimulus-responsive release, interfacial adhesion, lubrication, and extracellular matrix-mimetic properties can be tailored to the inflamed joint microenvironment. This narrative, evidence-graded review evaluates local hydrogel therapies using two complementary frameworks: the synovium–cartilage–bone pathological axis and a materials-science chain linking composition and crosslinking to structure and properties, release and degradation, and tissue-level outcomes. Evidence is classified as direct RA evidence, transferable evidence from related disease or tissue-engineering models, or conceptual evidence from mechanistic and materials-science studies. Therapeutic outcomes are separately graded as local immunomodulation, structural protection, tissue repair, or functionally validated structural disease modification. Current preclinical evidence supports the use of hydrogels for sustained local delivery and synovial immunomodulation, while selected systems demonstrate cartilage-protective or anti-erosive effects. However, durable multitissue restoration accompanied by functional recovery remains insufficiently demonstrated. Future studies should prioritize RA-relevant long-term models, in vivo intra-articular pharmacokinetics and biodistribution, standardized structural and functional endpoints, repeat-dose safety, and evaluation as add-on therapy to systemic DMARDs.