Active Peptides Derived from Snail Mucus Promoted Wound Healing by Enhancing Endothelial Cell Proliferation and Angiogenesis

Snail mucus is significant in promoting wound healing, however, its active components and their mechanisms are partially understood. The present study isolated and hydrolyzed snail mucus via trypsin to obtain snail mucus active peptides (SMAP). The SMAP was analyzed via liquid chromatography mass spectrometry and bioinformatics screening,an active peptide EK-12 (molecular weight, 1366.2 Da) comprising 12 amino acids was screened from the candidate peptides and synthesized through the solid-phase approach. In vitro functional verification showed that EK-12 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration, and tube formation ability of endothelial cells.In vivo experiment showed that EK-12 significantly accelerated the wound healing process on mice. Pathological examinations showed significantly upregulated expression of CD31 and vascular endothelial growth factor in wound tissues, suggesting this as the mechanism by which the active peptide promoted angiogenesis and wound healing. Thus, the active peptide screened from snail mucus showed a great potential in developing therapeutic agent for wound healing.