The NAU team invents a patented technology that accelerates wound healing and prevents infections

The American population is aging and diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are on the rise. With these factors in place, the medical community is increasingly concerned about the treatment of wounds. According to the American Professional Wound Care Association, about 15% of Medicare beneficiaries suffer from chronic wounds that do not heal and cost about $ 30 billion a year.

The risk of bacterial infection is one of the problems that doctors regularly face in treating wounds. Closing the wound helps reduce the risk, but if pathogens infect the compromised tissue, they can easily form biofilms, resistant cell communities coated with a protective biopolymer layer. Conventional antibiotics have difficulty in penetrating this layer and, therefore, biofilm-mediated infections require lengthy treatments. Microbial biofilms can lead to chronic infection and often cause havoc in hospitals, where they can spread.

Recently, scientists have explored tissue engineering to treat wounds and promote better healing. A new approach is to use three-dimensional skin substitutes formed from native skin proteins via a process called electrospinning. These "electrospun" proteins guide cell adhesion and growth and can be used to release cells, drugs and even genes into the body. Research is moving away from the use of synthetic scaffolding materials in favor of degradable porous materials that can provide a more natural, effective and aesthetic healing environment.

Three researchers from the University of Northeastern Arizona, Robert Kellar, badociate professor of biology, Nathan Nieto, badociate professor of biology, and Andy Koppisch, badociate professor of chemistry, as well as Rico Del Sesto of the 39, Dixie State University, have invented a technology that speeds up the reduces the risk of infection.

Scientists have developed this recently patented technology by incorporating antimicrobial materials called ionic liquids into scaffolds for wound healing. The incorporation of ionic liquid sterilizes the healing device and allows the resulting scaffold to resist colonization by a wide variety of microbial pathogens. The researchers envision that these scaffolding properties will similarly reduce the risk of infection during the wound closure process.

"The unique chemical properties of ionic liquids offer significant biochemical benefits as drugs to combat the development of biofilms," Koppisch said.

Ionic liquids are formally salts, but unlike table salt, they are fluid at room temperature and in a wider temperature range suitable for living systems. As a result, ionic liquids are often described as molten organic salts. Because they are temperature stable and adaptable, ionic liquids can be used for a variety of applications. One of these applications is the disruption of the protective biopolymer covering the microbial biofilms and the neutralization of the underlying cells, for which many ionic liquids have proved particularly well suited.

The team has identified choline geranate, an ionic fluid that not only serves as a vehicle for tissue-generating cells and drugs, but also has powerful biofilm destruction properties. It can attack established infections and prevent the development of new ones. The researchers have two applications: the solution can be added to dressings commonly used in wound treatment and integrated into scaffolds for wound healing.

In the course of their work, the researchers established a protocol for the formation of scaffolds containing an ionic liquid and demonstrated that choline geranate can prevent the scaffolds themselves from contaminating, even in the presence of high concentrations of agents. pathogens. The researchers hope that scaffolds will ultimately improve outcomes for patients with healing difficulties, such as diabetics suffering from chronic wound infections. The technology used by the team to create scaffolds uses native skin proteins that align closely with the skin, thus facilitating the natural healing process.

"This new technology represents a multi-disciplinary co-development effort to create revolutionary therapeutics in the fight against chronically infected wounds," said Kellar.

The researchers identified several other potential healing applications for the technology:

• Surgical incisions
• burns
• Skin problems such as acne
• Traumatic injuries caused by military-grade weapons
• Injured animals can suffer in a variety of contexts

"We are encouraged by our early discoveries and the speed with which the university was able to obtain patent protection for our ideas," said Kellar. "Our plans to move forward include looking for additional grants to support continued development and research on opportunities to turn technology into commercialization technology."