Science
Related: About this forumDrug-free bandage heals diabetic wounds faster
Ben Coxworth
4 hours ago
Because diabetics often have both nerve damage and poor circulation, they will often not notice when they receive skin wounds, which proceed to heal very slowly. Those wounds can thus become chronic, sometimes even leading to amputations. A new regenerative bandage, however, could help keep this from happening.
Led by Prof. Guillermo Ameer, a team from Illinois' Northwestern University started with a protein known as laminin. Found in the skin and most of the body's other tissues, it communicates with cells, prompting them to differentiate, migrate and adhere to one another.
The scientists were able to identify a specific segment of the protein, which plays a key role in the wound-healing process. That segment is made up of just 12 amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), and it's called A5G81. Because A5G81 is so much smaller and simpler than the entire laminin protein, it's much cheaper and easier to synthesize in the lab.
Ameer's team did so, then added it to a previously-developed antioxidant hydrogel bandage. That bandage takes the form of a liquid when initially applied to the skin, but then thickens into a stiff gel after being heated to body temperature. This allows it to do two things.
More:
https://newatlas.com/hydrogel-regenerative-diabetic-bandage/54991/
WhiteTara
(29,708 posts)mopinko
(70,099 posts)imagine adding a few stem cells.
SCantiGOP
(13,869 posts)My daughter is 21 and will graduate with her Nursing Degree next year. She was diagnosed Type 1 when she was 5, so I am always very interested in new developments in this field.
Not sure they will ever find a "cure" for T1 diabetes in her lifetime, but the technology - Continuous glucose monitors, pumps, etc - make the disease something you can live with and have a normal life.
I'm just afraid she might kill someone some day when they ask her if she got diabetes from eating too much candy when she was little. That is really a pet peeve for her.