Researchers have developed a type of biodegradable dressing to treat wounds on the skin that has been successful in stopping the inflammatory process and has improved blood supply compared to conventional treatments available.
The advantage, according to the scientists, is that the new technology is cheaper than the currently considered “gold standard” treatment.
According to them, the dressing, which is made of an absorbent biodegradable foam, had a performance that resulted in a greater recovery of the skin in a period of up to 24 days in relation to two other existing dressings.
The product has been tested on the skin of pigs, but scientists believe the promising results indicate that the effectiveness should be good when it is tested on humans.
The finding was published last month in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The study is the result of a partnership of researchers from several institutes at Vanderbilt University, in the US state of Tennessee.
According to the scientists, the existing treatments to cure chronic injuries have limitations, such as not acting on the immune response process or releasing fragments in the skin that increase the acidification of cells and end up generating an inflammatory process.
Eight years ago, engineers at the American university created a porous foam made from a material derived from polyurethane, which is biodegradable and fully absorbed by the skin during the healing process.
In the experiment carried out on animal models, the scientists tested four distinct types of foam with varying levels of hydrophilicity (a passion for water, that is, it pulls in water rather than repels it). As other existing dressings are hydrophobic (water repellent), the researchers wanted to test the role of water in the wound healing process.
First, they saw that chronic wounds have a high concentration of so-called reactive oxygen elements (ROS), which are released in the process of cellular degradation during skin necrosis and inflammation.
This release of oxygen slows down the healing process and damages adjacent cells. The researchers then saw that the dressing reacts directly with these elements, removing them, in addition to providing the growth of new “clean” cells and eliminating cellular toxins released by the tissue necrosis activity, thus having regenerative properties.
According to Craig Duvall, a bioengineer at Vanderbilt University and corresponding author of the study, the foams created in his lab allow wound cells to grow in the foam and undergo degradation, while reacting with ROS due to their affinity for water.
“When the dressing reacts with the ROS present in the tissue, it reduces the concentration of these elements in the wounds, reducing oxidative stress. The more hydrophilic the materials, the more reactive they are with these elements, that is, they end up having antioxidant properties”, he explained. .
Over time, the dressing degrades and the regenerated tissue fully replaces the damaged one, he added. The use of this dressing, however, will be limited to a hospital environment with the attention of a doctor or health professional.
According to the research, chronic diseases that cause skin wounds, such as diabetes, obesity and vascular diseases, have an annual cost in the United States of more than US$ 96 billion (about R$ 500 billion). Approximately 4.5 million people are treated every year in the country with chronic injuries or injuries caused by accidents and burns, which require a long recovery time.
The dressings already available are made of collagen or polyester materials. In the case of the first, considered the “gold standard”, the main problem, in addition to the high cost of US$ 3,885 (R$ 18,742) for a piece of 129 cmtwo, is that they do not provide an immune response in place. In the second case, despite the lower cost of around US$850, they are broken down into small molecules inside the skin that can increase cellular pH and worsen the inflammatory process.
Duvall says the new dressing can be manufactured on a large scale, at a cost similar to the polyester material. “We will continue to refine the product to be as effective as possible and hope to begin human trials soon,” he said.
