New hydrogels developed by U medical researchers appear to heal wounds much faster than other therapies.
If the hydrogels work as well in people as they do in mice, this new therapy will offer new hope for millions of elderly people, burn victims, diabetics and surgical patients.
Diabetic ulcers, surgical incisions, skin grafts and other wounds will heal much faster and with less scarring, according to researchers from the U’s Colleges of Pharmacy, Engineering and Medicine, who reported their findings in the September 2002 issue of the journal Biomaterials.
The hydrogels look like a piece of clear, thin plastic when they’re dry, but expand up to six times in volume when wet. They are related to biopolymer hydrogels already developed by U scientists and have the potential for a wide range of uses.
Researchers say the hydrogel trials with mice show hydrogel wound dressings speed healing in the outer layers of skin by 33 percent and healing of deep wounds in five to seven days. This research was done on young, healthy mice, but researchers say the hydrogels should show even more profound results in older mice or people.
“This portends that we have something important,” said Jane Shelby, associate professor of surgery.
Researchers hope to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to begin human trials of the hydrogels by early next year. While conventional dressings and bandages mainly keep moisture in and germs out as wounds heal, hydrogel dressings slowly break down and absorb into the wounds, becoming part of the extracellular matrix that surrounds human cells.