ABSTRACT

Chronic wounds are a major worldwide health problem. Cotton gauze is a standard of care in the management of chronic wounds and is still routinely employed in hospitals and nursing homes for long term wound care. We consider in this paper molecular modifications of cotton gauze to improve chronic wound healing. The presence of elevated levels of elastase in non-healing wounds has been associated with the degradation of important growth factors and fibronectin necessary for wound healing. In the healing wound a balance of elastase and antiproteases prevents this degradation from taking place. Cotton cellulose modified to release elastase inhibitors or selectively sequester elastase would provide a gauze wound dressing that decreases high levels of destructive elastase found in the chronic wound.