Synthesis of sealant hydrogel for speedy wound healing in diabetic patients.
Project Summary: &
2025-06-28 16:29:40 - Adil Khan
Synthesis of sealant hydrogel for speedy wound healing in diabetic patients.
Project Area of Specialization Biomedical EngineeringProject SummaryProject Summary:
Minor wounds, cuts, and burns are an unfortunate but unavoidable part of life. However, for people with diabetes, these injuries can lead to serious health issues. Many people with diabetes develop wounds that are either slow to heal, or do not heal well, or never heal. Sometimes, an infection might develop. An infection can spread to tissue and bone near the wound or more distant areas of the body and also cause diabetic foot ulcer. In some severe cases, the only way doctors can treat the infection is to amputate (remove) the area that is affected. Because the infection can be life-threatening or may even be fatal
Unfortunately, Pakistan was ranked 1st among the world's top countries for having the highest comparative diabetes prevalence rate in 2021, according to the International Diabetic Federation (IDF).
Amputation (removal/cut off) of a diabetic foot or limb is a frequent complication of diabetes. Every 30 seconds, a limb is amputated somewhere on the globe, and 85 percent of these amputations are related to a diabetic foot ulcer. In Pakistan, a significant increase in the percentage of amputations has been observed from 2010 to 2019.
Regrettably, in Pakistan we do not have any effective dressing or medicine specifically for diabetic wounds. Few private medical sectors used to import dressings for diabetic wounds but those are extremely costly. Secondly, they only work for either gram positive or gram negative bacteria, despite the fact that diabetic wounds contain both types of bacteria. As a result, they do not promote wound healing, and the wound worsens day by day.
Our ultimate goal is to synthesize a sealant hydrogel that would effectively mitigate the drawbacks of the commercially available medications in Pakistan. We going to synthesize a sealant hydrogel which will quickly seal diabetic wounds and effectively treat them at an early stage, before they turn into a severe blister or foot ulcer. On the other hand it will restrict the growth of both type bacteria: gram negative and gram positive.
Basically, this hydrogel is made up of all the natural ingredients: the Bitter gourd (Karela vegetable), Chitosan, Sodium alginate and Calcium-polygama glutamic acid. Each of these chemical will provide us the unique properties which are given below.
- Bitter gourd will help to reduce inflammation and the eradication of fungal infection around the diabetic wound. It will also enhance the growth of regenerative tissues for diabetic patients as well as provide vitamin-C to the diabetic wound.
- Chitosan is use to accelerate wound healing. It will also results in the coagulation (clotting) of blood drawn from the diabetic wound.
- Sodium alginate will absorb the puss. Puss or exudates are one of the factors which prevent wound from healing.
- Calcium-poly gamma glutamic acid will help to maintain the pH of wound and will provide the moisture for the phase of healing to avoid extreme dryness.
Project objectives:
- To enhance our product's potential against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria, found in diabetic wounds.
- To add a blood coagulation agent (blood clotting agent) to our product to accelerate the wound healing process.
- To obtain a high puss absorption quality, as diabetes wounds secrete a lot of puss, slowing wound healing.
- To induce skin pH regulating factors to prevent the pH of the wound's surrounding area from changing and the surrounding cells from being decorated.
- To make our product moisture regulator, since a lack of moisture causes cell loss after dryness.
- To keep our product cytotoxic-free in order to keep the wound's tensile strength.
Project implementation:
Steps to be followed:
>>Materials:
- Chitosan
- Sodium alginate
- Poly gamma glutamic acid
- Bitter gourd.
- Calcium chloride
>>Preparation of Hydrogels:
Preparation of hydrogel (Alginate-chitosan-PGA-bitter gourd):
- To make a homogenous solution, mix sodium alginate in deionized water for 24 hours while stirring constantly.
- By dissolving chitosan in weak acetic acid and stirring it for 24 hours, a homogenous chitosan solution is formed.
- After that, a Calcium–PGA (Poly gamma glutamic acid) homogeneous solution will be created by stirring Calcium–PGA in deionized water for 2 hours.
- Pour the Alginate solution onto a glass plate and allow it to air dry for one day.
- Apply the chitosan solution on the dry sodium alginate film and let it air dry for one day.
- To make a hydrogel film, pour Calcium–PGA (Poly gamma glutamic acid) solution over the alginate –chitosan (AL-CS) film.
- AL-CS-PGA is the resultant hydrogel.
- In a beaker, squeeze a small amount of bitter gourd (karela) extract and give it a proper shake.
- Pour the desired amount of extract into the hydrogel that has already been produced (Al-CS-PGA).
- Final product we get is our sealent hydrogel.
Block diagram:
Project benefits:
- The ratio of diabetic foot ulcer will be reduced significantly in diabetic patients.
- Provide rapid cure at early stage of wound without proceeding to foot ulcer.
- This product will assist in protecting the healthy neighboring cells from possible damage.
- This medication is made up of medicinal substances derived from natural sources, posing a little or no danger of adverse effects.
- It also supplies vitamin-C to the wounds, which is responsible for the acceleration of wound healing process.
- Current ointments do not treat deep diabetic wound, however our product is designed to treat deep wounds and blistery diabetic skin.
- Wounds will be cured at faster rate after application of our product than that of other commercially available products.
- The patient would experience less pain and less burning sensation by using this product.
- This product can also be used to treat burns, as well as surgical cuts as a general post-surgery ointment.
- Having this product will significantly reduce the amount of amputations (removal of damaged body parts)
- For the first time, Pakistan would be able to present its own diabetic wound product at a reasonable price.
Technical details:
Evaluation and analysis of functionality:
- Determination of swelling ratio of hydrogel to observe absorption rate of pus in diabetic wounds.
- Determination of blood coagulation activity by automated blood coagulation analyzer to examine the blood clotting time for diabetic wound.
- Evaluation of antibacterial properties using disk-diffusion method.
- Testing cytotoxicity using WST-1 assay.
- Preparation of mice models by injecting streptozotocin for the induction of diabetes.
- Analysis of histological (Tissue analysis) to observe the wound healing rate.
| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 80000 | |||
| Chitosan | Equipment | 25 | 320 | 8000 |
| Sodium alginate | Equipment | 25 | 208 | 5200 |
| Poly gamma glutamic acid | Equipment | 25 | 392 | 9800 |
| Calcium chloride | Equipment | 12 | 500 | 6000 |
| Bitter gourd | Equipment | 5 | 200 | 1000 |
| APTT test for blood coagulation | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| Diabetes (Test) | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| Disk diffusion method (Test) | Equipment | 2 | 2000 | 4000 |
| Streptozotocin (Injection) | Equipment | 3 | 8000 | 24000 |
| Glass wares (Apparatus) | Equipment | 5 | 1800 | 9000 |
| Veterinary assistance | Miscellaneous | 1 | 4000 | 4000 |
| Transport | Miscellaneous | 20 | 200 | 4000 |
| Miscellaneous | 2 | 1000 | 2000 |