Improvement of the antibacterial and skin-protective performance of alcohol-based sanitizers using hydroglycolic phytocompounds

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak increased the usage of hand rub disinfectants, resulting in skin damage. The World Health Organization (WHO) proposed hand rubs formulations incorporating glycerine due to its moisturizing effect; nonetheless, glycerine can reduce the antimicrobial activity of alcohol-based hand rubs. Here we demonstrated that incorporating hydroglycolic extract as a substitute for glycerol in hand rub formulations reduces epidermis damage while improving antimicrobial effectiveness. We applied the hydroglycolic extracts from Cucumis sativus L., Fragaria sp. and Calendula officinalis instead of glycerol to modify the formula proposed by the WHO. The antimicrobial activity and the healing skin action were evaluated using the agar diffusion test and a human skin tolerability trial. Furthermore, we assessed the cytotoxicity and wound repair capability of the formulated hydroglycolic extracts against human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) and the phenotype of murine macrophages. The hand rubs containing Fragaria sp. and C. officinalis hydroglycolic extracts showed improved antimicrobial activity even after six months of fabrication. Moreover, the formulated hand rubs had similar cellular viability behaviour to glycerol. Interestingly, the tolerability and acceptability response were promoted by the C. sativus extract, showing skin protection and increased integrity by up to 14.12%. Our results represent an alternative, ecofriendly and cost-effective option for formulating new potential hand rubs that improve skin protection without compromising the disinfection functionality.