A model developed in the laboratory by researchers at Université Laval should make it possible to test molecules to facilitate the healing of diabetic ulcers.

The model, designed by doctoral student Mathias Lemarchand under the supervision of Professor François Berthod, replicates the skin of a diabetic in the laboratory.

The researchers used two cell types found in the dermis - fibroblasts and keratinocytes - and treated them with a chemical that increases the binding of sugars to proteins (a process known as glycation) to reproduce the effects of the very high blood sugar levels that characterize diabetes.

The mice currently used to study wound healing are imperfect models since they heal their wounds in a different, and much more effective, way than humans. The transfer of this knowledge to humans is therefore limited.

It was therefore important to have a model closer to human reality to advance hopes of curing these ulcers which, in the worst cases, can lead to limb amputation.

"To be able to find new molecules that can better treat these ulcers, the really important thing is to develop models that can reproduce the reality of the diabetic ulcer in vitro," summarized Berthod.

Berthod's team had already developed a skin model - "which worked well," he said - to study wound healing. This time, they wanted to take their work a step further by developing a model closer to the reality of diabetics.

"It's very difficult to reproduce such diabetic skin in the laboratory," Berthod explained. "Diabetes is a disease that progresses slowly, and it's the hyperglycemia that, over the years, ends up hampering the skin's ability to heal. Since you can't keep a skin model in the laboratory for years, they had to find a method "to speed up the process (...) to get as close as possible to the situation in the patient."

And that's what they managed to do.

"The ultimate proof that it works is that when we compare our model treated (...) to induce the negative effects of hyperglycemia and a normal model, when we compare the two, we see that indeed, when we have induced this glycation treatment, we have a negative impact on wound closure," said Berthod.

This model will now be used to test molecules that could protect against the harmful effects of hyperglycemia. We could one day envisage the development of a topical treatment applied directly to ulcers.

Researchers are currently working on a model that would use the patient's own cells to model the effect of these molecules. This represents another major challenge since these cells are so diseased that it is very difficult to grow them in the laboratory to obtain complete skin.

"Our aim is to develop approaches that are as inexpensive as possible, and as accessible as possible because we know that diabetes is a growing problem," said Berthod. "The number of patients is increasing all the time, and there are all kinds of problems associated with these patients. The more patients you have to treat, the more important it is that the approaches you develop are inexpensive and easy to apply."

The findings were published in the scientific journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on June 1.