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Researchers have developed a battery-powered oxygen gel that accelerates the healing of chronic diabetic wounds, reduces infection, and may help prevent amputations
A team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside, has developed an innovative battery-powered oxygen-gel that may revolutionise the treatment of chronic diabetic wounds. The gel delivers a steady flow of oxygen directly into hard-to-heal tissue, accelerating recovery, reducing infection, and potentially preventing amputations. Early preclinical studies show promising results, suggesting this technology could offer clinicians a powerful new tool for managing wounds that have long challenged conventional treatments.
Chronic wounds: A hidden epidemic affecting millions
A wound that remains open for longer than a month is classified as chronic. Around 12 million people experience chronic wounds each year, and around one-fifth of these patients will face an amputation.
The researchers looked at what they see as a central cause of chronic wounds, a shortage of oxygen deep within damaged tissue. When oxygen levels are too low, wounds remain trapped in a prolonged inflammatory phase, leading to bacterial growth and tissue breakdown rather than repair.
“When oxygen from the bloodstream or the surrounding air cannot reach the deeper layers of tissue, a condition called hypoxia develops, disrupting the body’s normal healing process.
Chronic wounds don’t heal by themselves,” said Iman Noshadi, UCR associate professor of bioengineering, who led the research team.
“There are four stages to healing chronic wounds: inflammation, vascularization, where tissue starts making blood vessels, remodeling, and regeneration or healing. In any of these stages, lack of a stable, consistent oxygen supply is a big problem,” he said.
Developing an oxygen-generating gel
The scientists created a soft, flexible gel using water and a choline-based liquid that is antibacterial, nontoxic, and biocompatible. When connected to a small battery similar to those found in hearing aids, the material acts like a miniature electrochemical device. It splits water molecules and steadily releases oxygen.
Unlike treatments that supply oxygen only at the surface, this gel adapts to the shape of the wound. Before it solidifies, it fills small gaps and uneven areas where oxygen levels tend to be lowest, and infection risk is highest.
One key ingredient in the gel, choline, is a nutrient that helps regulate the immune system and reduces excessive inflammation, helping to address the problem of too little oxygen (hypoxia).
Gel patch speeds recovery in diabetic wounds
The researchers tested the technology with diabetic and older mice, as their wounds resemble chronic wounds in older adults. In untreated animals, wounds failed to close and were often fatal.
In the mice with the oxygen-producing patch, the chronic wounds healed in about 23 days, and the animals survived.
“We could make this patch as a product where the gel may need to be renewed periodically,” said Prince David Okoro, UCR bioengineering doctoral candidate in Noshadi’s lab and paper co-author.
The potential applications extend beyond treating chronic wounds. Oxygen and nutrient shortages are major barriers in efforts to grow replacement tissues and organs, which is a long-term goal of the Noshadi laboratory.
“When the thickness of a tissue increases, it’s hard to diffuse that tissue with what it needs, so cells start dying,” Noshadi said. “This project can be seen as a bridge to creating and sustaining larger organs for people in need of them.”