Linear Peptide Analogues from Jatropha’s Orbitides Promote Migration of Human Neonatal Foreskin Fibroblasts in vitro and Collagen Deposition

Orbitides are a class of small naturally occurring cyclic peptides with structural and functional diversities. Their chemical properties make this class feasible to be obtained by solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). Therefore, this synthetic accessibility enables useful application and facilitates the identification of analogues, bioactivity studies, and thus, enables them to be applied to obtain peptide libraries. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of orbitides and their linear synthetic analogues on the migration of neonatal human foreskin fibroblasts. The screening of linear peptide analogues, originally designed from natural orbitides isolated from Jatropha species, demonstrated that some molecules (linear pohlianin B and linear ribifolin) have the potential to induce fibroblast migration and collagen deposition and may thus contribute to accelerating the processes of wound healing and tissue repair. These results also demonstrate the significance of using peptides as an important tool for the discovery of simple and novel drug scaffolds.