Non-invasive longitudinal monitoring of angiogenesis in a murine full-thickness cutaneous wound healing model using high-resolution three-dimensional ultrasound imaging

Advanced Wound Diagnostics: Toward Transforming Wound Care into Precision Medicine

Significance: Nonhealing wounds are an ever-growing global pandemic, with mortality rates and management costs exceeding many common cancers. Although our understanding of the molecular and cellular factors driving wound healing continues to grow, standards for diagnosing and evaluating wounds remain largely subjective and experiential, whereas therapeutic strategies fail to consistently achieve closure and clinicians are challenged to deliver individualized care protocols. There is a need to apply precision medicine practices to wound care by developing evidence-based approaches, which are predictive, prescriptive, and personalized. Recent Advances: Recent developments in "advanced" wound diagnostics, namely biomarkers (proteases, acute phase reactants, volatile emissions, and more) and imaging systems (ultrasound, autofluorescence, spectral imaging, and optical coherence tomography), have begun to revolutionize our understanding of the molecular wound landscape and usher in a modern age of therapeutic strategies. Herein, biomarkers and imaging systems with the greatest evidence to support their potential clinical utility are reviewed. Critical Issues: Although many potential biomarkers have been identified and several imaging systems have been or are being developed, more high-quality randomized controlled trials are necessary to elucidate the currently questionable role that these tools are playing in altering healing dynamics or predicting wound closure within the clinical setting. Future Directions: The literature supports the need for the development of effective point-of-care wound assessment tools, such as a platform diagnostic array that is capable of measuring multiple biomarkers at once. These, along with advances in telemedicine, synthetic biology, and "smart" wearables, will pave the way for the transformation of wound care into a precision medicine. Clinical Trial Registration number: NCT03148977.

Dracorhodin Perchlorate Regulates the Expression of Inflammatory Cytokines through the TLR4 Pathway and Improves Skin Wound Healing in Diabetic Rats

Background

Dragon's blood is a natural medicine with hemostatic and blood-activating effects and is used to promote wound healing. Dracorhodin perchlorate (DP) is a stable form of dracarhod and is used as a substitute for cochinchinenin. DP promotes the proliferation of rat fibroblasts and promotes wound healing in rats.

Methods

DP ointment (0.2 mg/mL) was applied to the skin wounds of nondiabetic and diabetic rats, and the skin of the wound was collected. Wound healing rate, H&E staining, Masson staining, TLR4 pathway, related inflammatory factors, nitric oxide synthase, and so forth were detected.

Results

DP treatment alleviated the prolonged inflammatory cell infiltration time and the increase in the TLR4 pathway and inflammatory factors caused by diabetes. DP also promoted wound healing by increasing eNOS protein expression and NO content in the later stage of wound healing.

Conclusion

DP promotes wound healing in diabetic rats by regulating the TLR4 pathway and related inflammatory factors. Therefore, adjuvant treatment of DP can be developed for diabetic wound healing.