New treatments for chronic, slow-healing wounds and
peripheral artery disease may be one outcome of new research published today in
the journal Circulation Research.
The study outlines the ways in which a connective muscle
tissue protein called "fibronectin" affect blood flow.
"Our data study suggests that engineering
fibronectin could provide a simple, elegant way to maintain normal blood vessel
function in the aging, and to restore such function in hard-to-heal
wounds," said Ingrid H. Sarelius, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology and
Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and a study author.
"Applying topical ointments that contain our
engineered fibronectin fragments to chronic wounds should increase nutritive
blood flow to accelerate healing," she added.