Overview

In the past few decades, the problem of diabetes and its complications have raised concerns from the public all over the world. Diabetic wounds have always troubled people with diabetes. These wounds are difficult to heal, so they can easily be infected. In the worst condition, it can be life-threatening. Our project came up with a solution that utilizes the function of PQQ which promotes cell growth to accelerate wound healing.

From literature research, it is found that PQQ has antioxidant effects on mammalian cells, which may have an effect to promote wound healing. However, the application of PQQ is limited because of its scarcity. Therefore, we use synthetic biology to mass-produce PQQ. Finally, we designed a modified dressing with the functional PQQ that promotes wound healing for people with diabetes. Except for the work in the laboratory, we put much effort into designing the dressing, targeting users, and ensuring subsequent safety of the dressing. In this journey, we took the suggestions and challenges we received as inspiration to optimize our products. We hope to solve the problem caused by diabetic wounds and make an impact in the community in the future.

Design of dressing

The design of the dressing was inspired by the ointments used in traditional Chinese medicine^[1]. Simply put, we wanted to make the dressing gelatinous, so we mixed the supernatant containing the dressing ingredients with Aristoflex AVC. Users can decide how much ointment to use based on the condition of the wound and then cover it with gauze. Below is a description of the main ingredients of our dressings:
Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ):
According to literature research and experimental results, we expected that PQQ is capable of promoting wound healing to make the wound heal faster. Therefore, we used PQQ as one of the main components of the dressing.
Natto Extract: ^[2]Natto extract includes nattokinase, γ-PGA, vitamin K2...etc, and these components help wound healing in different ways. For example, γ-PGA has high moisture retention and biocompatibility, providing a suitable environment for wound healing.
Aristoflex AVC:
^[3]Aristoflex AVC is a synthetic polymer used as a gelling agent for aqueous systems as a texturizer, and thickener for oil-in-water emulsions. Aristoflex AVC is highly stable, and it is stable towards UV radiation and high shear stress. Its thickening properties make it easier for the other components of the dressing to stay on the wound. Besides, it also has moisture retention that helps wounds heal.

Target Users

Our target users are people with diabetes. ^[4]Hyperglycemia damages the blood vessels that bring oxygen to some nerves. Then, ^[5] damaged nerves may stop sending pain signals. This causes poor blood circulation and insensitivity to touch. The concentrations of antibiotics and oral medicines will be diluted by the blood circulation Therefore, it is hard to find and treat wounds at the end of a patient's limbs, which may easily cause the wound to be infected or develop into ^[6]diabetic foot ulcers. To solve this problem, we utilized the function of PQQ to promote wound repair. That is, our dressing not only shortens wound healing time, but it also reduces other health problems caused by non healing wounds.

Reference

1. Chen Chen, T., Yu, S. C., Hsu, C. M., Tsai, F. J., & Tsai, Y. (2018). A water-based topical Chinese traditional medicine (Zicao) for wound healing developed using 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin. Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces, 165, 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2018.02.013

2. Chang, C. H., Chen, K. T., Lee, T. H., Wang, C. H., Kuo, Y. W., Chiu, Y. H., Hsieh, C. L., Wu, C. J., & Chang, Y. L. (2010). Effects of natto extract on endothelial injury in a rat model. Acta medica Okayama, 64(6), 399–406. https://doi.org/10.18926/AMO/41326

3. Sobral-Souza, D. F., Gouveia, T., Condeles, A. L., Junior, J., Muniz, B. V., Franz-Montan, M., Pauli, M. C., Leonardi, G. R., & Lima, D. (2022). Effect of accelerated stability on the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of experimental bleaching gels containing different bioadhesive polymers. Clinical oral investigations, 26(3), 3261–3271.https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-021-04308-6

4. Mouri, M., & Badireddy, M. (2022). Hyperglycemia. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.

5. Feldman, E. L., Callaghan, B. C., Pop-Busui, R., Zochodne, D. W., Wright, D. E., Bennett, D. L., Bril, V., Russell, J. W., & Viswanathan, V. (2019). Diabetic neuropathy. Nature reviews. Disease primers, 5(1), 41. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-019-0092-1

6. Oliver, T. I., & Mutluoglu, M. (2022). Diabetic Foot Ulcer. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.