| Rănile încăpățânate se întâlnesc cu un pansament rece cu jet de plasmă |
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| Luni, 19 Februarie 2024 18:17 |
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Folosind un jet de plasmă rece pentru a activa hidrogelul, cercetătorii au creat un pansament cu proprietăți antibacteriene și de vindecare a rănilor. Tehnologia ar putea fi folosită ca alternativă la tratamentele actuale care se bazează pe antibiotice pentru a trata rănile cronice, cum ar fi ulcerul piciorului diabetic. The growing global number of diabetics means that there will be more people who experience a foot ulcer in their lifetime. For 60% of diabetics, these ulcers will become infected, and because of poor wound healing associated with the condition, the ulcers often become chronic wounds.
Chronic-wound management is aimed at controlling infection and stimulating healing, but it’s limited. Currently, dressings impregnated with antimicrobial silver or antibiotics are the benchmark, which can become less effective due to antibiotic resistance and the potential for silver toxicity. Researchers from the University of South Australia (Uni SA) have investigated a new technology to control infection and stimulate healing: a hydrogel activated by cold plasma ionized gas. “Antibiotics and silver dressing are commonly used to treat chronic wounds, but both have drawbacks,” said Endre Szili, a corresponding author of the study. “Growing resistance to antibiotics is a global challenge, and there are also major concerns over silver-induced toxicity. In Europe, silver dressings are being phased out for this reason.” Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of using cold plasma ionized gas for wound healing, namely reducing bacterial load and generating reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) by activating the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the ambient air. Until now, a hydrogel has been loaded with plasma-generated RONS before being applied to a wound, but the procedure isn’t perfect. “Despite recent encouraging results in the use of plasma-activated hydrogel therapy (PAHT), we faced the challenge of loading hydrogels with sufficient concentrations of RONS required for clinical use,” Szili said. “We have overcome this hurdle by employing a new electrochemical method that enhances the hydrogel activation.” The researchers created their hydrogel using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) because of its widespread regulatory approval for healthcare use and excellent mechanical and biocompatible properties. The PVA hydrogel was treated with a helium plasma jet to activate it, generating RONS. An 8% PVA hydrogel was determined to be optimal as a PAHT dressing because it could be readily activated by plasma-generating RONS while retaining its structural integrity, conformability, and ability to swell. * *- The study was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
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