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Ultra-fine cellulose acetate (CA; M(w) approximately 30,000 Da; degree of acetyl substitution approximately 2.4) fiber mats containing either asiaticoside [from the plant Centella asiatica (L.); either in the form of a crude extract (CACE) or pure substance (PAC)] or curcumin (CM; from the plant Curcuma longa L.) were successfully prepared. The proposed use of these materials is as topical/transdermal patches or wound dressings. Here, the potential for use of these herb-loaded CA fiber mats as wound dressings was evaluated in terms of the stability and the antioxidant activity of the as-loaded herbal substances, the ability to support both the attachment and the proliferation of fibroblasts and the ability of the cultured fibroblasts to synthesize collagen. Normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) were used as the reference fibroblastic cells. The results showed that the as-loaded herbal substances were stable even after the herb-loaded CA fiber mats had been aged either at room temperature or at 40 degrees C for a period of up to 4 months. The inclusion of asiaticoside [either 2% (w/w) CACE or 40% (w/w) PAC] rendered the resulting CA fiber mats their superiority in supporting the attachment, promoting the proliferation, and upregulating the production of collagen of the seeded and/or the cultured NHDF to the corresponding solvent-cast films and the neat CA fiber mats. On the other hand, the presence of CM imparted the antioxidant activity to the resulting CA fiber mats., ((c) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)