Patients with red blood cells diseases such as thalassemia and sickle cell disease are more prone to suffer from leg ulcers due to their lower hemoglobin level. Diabetic patients are also prone to these due to their chronic inflammatory state.

The healing of skin wounds and ulcers is a highly regulated dynamic process that occurs in four overlapping phases.

The hemostatic phase, which starts immediately after injury, consists of the constriction of the damaged vessels to reduce the blood outpour, the plugging of damaged vessels with platelets and the covering of the platelet plugs with a fibrin mesh made of proteins called clotting factors.

In the inflammatory phase white blood cells move to the wound site to remove any dead cells, bacteria and foreign objects from the wound site.

In the proliferative phase new blood vessels and tissue are formed while fibroblasts form an extracellular matrix to fill the wound.  Concurrently, other skin cells move to cover the wound site.

The remodelling phase consists of scar formation, which starts 21 days after the injury and may last for up to a year. In this phase collagen moves to plug any gaps whilst dead cells are removed. The severity of inflammation determines the extent of scar formation.

As a consequence of ageing, disease processes or traumatic injury, tissues and organ systems lose their capacity to carry out their physiologic functions including their defences against skin wounds such as leg ulcers. Some wounds may therefore become chronic and never heal.

Clinicians usually treat wounds by applying dressings to constrict the flow of blood from the damaged cells or by removing non-viable tissue. Biological therapies have been developed using single growth factor elements released by the cells involved in the wound healing process such as platelets and resident skin cells.

Researchers from the University of Malta have demonstrated that these therapies may be improved by using a number of the various growth factors which are active in the wound healing process. Further research is now being done to investigate whether the process may be further improved by using different growth factor formulas in each phase of the wound healing process.

To do this, the growth factors contained in the platelet rich plasma will be identified, quantified and separated by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). This technique is used to separate mixed substances depending on the speed at which they move through special media. It works under high pressure to improve the separation process. The individual growth factors will then be put together according to the formula that best suits each phase of wound healing and tested in an in-vitro model.

Dr Elisa Seria is a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking, University of Malta, supported by the Life Science Park through Malta Enterprise under the academic supervision of  Professor Alexander Felice. Two graduate students from the Department of Surgery will participate in this project.

Did you know?

• Sterling silver contains 7.5 per cent copper.

• Boron nitride (BN) is the second hardest substance.

• 60 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor.

• Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch.

• The moon is one million times drier than the Gobi Desert.

• House flies have a lifespan of two weeks.

For more trivia see: www.um.edu.mt/think

Sound bites

• In the perennial question of nature versus nurture, a new study suggests an intriguing connection between the two. Scientists report that the type of mothering a female mouse provides her pups actually changes their DNA. The work lends support to studies about how childhood environments affect brain development in humans and could provide insights into neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180322140945.htm

• A new study shows that 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 metric tons are currently afloat in an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – and the problem is rapidly getting worse.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180322123755.htm

To find out some more interesting science news, tune in to Radju Malta on Saturday mornings at 11.05 am and listen to Radio Mocha.

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