DOI: 10.3390/plants15192901 ISSN: 2223-7747

Dual-Component Nanoemulsion Containing Brugmansia suaveolens Leaf Extract and Copaiba Oil: Antimicrobial Activity and Preclinical Wound-Healing Potential

Sandro Pinheiro da Costa, Verônica da Silva Cardoso, Alane Beatriz Vermelho, Marcel Vasconcellos, Valéria Cristina Lopes Marques, Maria Eduarda Monteiro Silva, Ana Carolina Borba de Frias, Naomi Kato Simas, Ivana Correa Ramos Leal, Maria Helena Amaral, Simone Sacramento Valverde, Eduardo Ricci-Júnior

This study developed and evaluated a dual-component nanoemulsion containing Brugmansia suaveolens (Willd.) Sweet hydroethanolic leaf extract and copaiba oil (BSLE-NE). BSLE and copaiba oil were chemically characterized using high-resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, respectively. BSLE-NE was optimized and characterized by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The formulation was also subjected to a preliminary 28-day physicochemical stability study at 8, 25, and 40 °C, as well as antimicrobial and cytocompatibility assays and evaluation in an excisional wound model using female Wistar rats. The antioxidant activity of BSLE was also assessed. Chemical profiling of BSLE revealed 39 chromatographic features, including putatively annotated tropane alkaloids, whereas β-caryophyllene (48.91%) was the predominant compound in copaiba oil. BSLE-NE exhibited a mean droplet diameter of 144 nm, a polydispersity index of 0.135, and a spherical morphology. The formulation maintained its nanometric droplet size for 28 days at 8 and 25 °C. Both BSLE and BSLE-NE exhibited >90% relative inhibition against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis. At a BSLE-equivalent concentration of 500 μg mL−1, nanoemulsification increased J774 macrophage viability from approximately 61% to 84%, while maintaining high viability in fibroblasts and keratinocytes. In vivo, both Copaiba-NE and BSLE-NE improved wound repair relative to the untreated control, while BSLE-NE produced the smallest residual wound diameter and the most advanced tissue organization. These findings support the preclinical wound-repair potential of BSLE-NE as a dual-component topical formulation integrating BSLE and bioactive copaiba oil.