Antioxidant Treatment may Help Heal Chronic Wounds

It's estimated that close to 6.5 million Americans are afflicted with chronic wounds, costing the country over $25 million in medical bills alone. This can range from a foot blister and other diabetic ulcers or sores to leg amputations that may ultimately be necessary due to serious health conditions.

However, a recent study addresses the perplexing question of why some wound infections become chronic and are, unfortunately, unable to heal.

According to lead study author Manuela Martins-Green, a professor of cell biology at the University of California, Riverside, she reports that two biological activities make many chronic infections out of a patient and doctors control, including reactive oxygen species (ROS) and biofilms.

The ROS molecules form through partial reduction of oxygen, while the biofilms are formed through selective invading bacteria.

"By decreasing ROS levels with a chronic wound in a diabetic mouse model, my lab was able to normalize conditions and heal the wound," said Martins-Green, via a press release. "Indeed, we saw significant improvement in healing the wound."

However, to create this environment, the researchers had to be careful. Excessive ROS can induce chronicm inflammation-a key characteristic in wounds that may not heal. When interacting with biofilms, it can create a toxic environment in which the body resists efforts to heal and close a chronic wound.

Fortunately, researchers were able to inhibit two antioxidant enzymes, glutathione peroxidase and catalase. These enzymes help maintain normal tissue levels of ROS. However, when inhibited, ROS levels increased and biofilm streghened. As these antioxidants were more damaging in combination than when used individually, scientists worked to decrease ROS levels to a normal amount through the application of vitamin E and N-Acetyl cysteine. This restored the antioxidant enzymes and lowered the ROS and bacterial film levels.

"Our results show for the first time that by deliberately modulating specific parameters, we can create chronic wounds and then reverse chronicity by antioxidant treatment," Martins-Green said, via the release. "These findings should help in unraveling the mechanisms underlying the development of chronic wounds and hence in identifying potential targets for treatment of these wounds in humans."

More information regarding the study can be found via the Dec. 17 meeting in New Orleans, La. Of the American Society for Cell Biology.