Combined Antioxidant-Antibiotic Treatment for Effectively Healing Infected Diabetic Wounds Based on Polymer Vesicles

Abstract

Infected diabetic wounds are difficult to heal due to high reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations and recurrent infections.  Reactive oxygen species (ROS) serve as cell signaling molecules for normal biologic processes. However, the generation of ROS can also provoke damage to multiple cellular organelles and processes, which can ultimately disrupt normal physiology. Such wounds can easily deteriorate into a diabetic ulcer, a chronic diabetic complication with a very high mortality rate. Herein, a combined antioxidant-antibiotic therapy based on poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(glutamic acid) polymer vesicle is proposed to treat infected diabetic wounds. This was realized on cell cultures decoration of stable, well-dispersed ceria nanoparticles polymer vesicles. These resulting CIP-loaded and ceria-decorated polymer vesicles (CIP-Ceria-PVs) exhibited high superoxide dismutase mimetic activity to inhibit superoxide free radicals (the inhibition rate reached ∼50% at an extremely low cerium concentration of 1.25 μg/mL). n vivo treatment of infected diabetic wounds was performed on a diabetic mice model. The vesicles could effectively cure infected diabetic wounds within 14 days.

Conclusion: Overall, a combined antioxidant-antibiotic therapy was proposed by introducing ceria nanoparticles and CIP into polymer vesicles for the treatment of infected diabetic wounds.

Source ACS Publications