Microneedles improve healing for diabetic wounds in Singapore

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed two new microneedle technologies to help heal diabetic wounds. These wounds can lead to serious complications, including amputations, and affect over six percent of the global population. In Singapore, about four lower limb amputations occur daily due to non-healing diabetic wounds. The NUS team, led by Assistant Professor Andy Tay, created these microneedles to enhance wound healing by protecting important proteins called growth factors and removing harmful inflammatory substances. Growth factors are crucial for healing, but they break down quickly in diabetic wounds. High inflammation levels also slow recovery. The first approach involves using microneedles to deliver a protein called interleukin-4 (IL-4) that stimulates growth factor production in wounds. This is done with sucralfate microneedles, which dissolve in the wound and help protect growth factors, leading to faster healing—twice as fast as traditional methods. The second approach uses microneedles to extract unwanted inflammatory proteins and immune cells from the wounds. The team designed heparin-coated microneedles that effectively remove inflammatory substances, reducing inflammation by half and wound size by 90% within 14 days. These new techniques show promise for treating not only diabetic wounds but also other skin disorders. Researchers plan to continue their studies and improve these technologies for clinical use, aiming to help patients with various inflammatory skin conditions.