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Faster wound healing prompted by lab enhanced maggots in an NCSU clinical trial

By Staff Reporter | Update Date: Mar 25, 2016 02:46 PM EDT

A research team has done a significant work in the field of biotechnology as the laboratory engineered fly larvae in their study has contributed positively to more just wound healing as it triggers the quickening of cell growth due to hormone that the maggots released. 

The clinical trial spearheaded by the North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh spread over the green bottle fly larvae which is scientifically known as Lucilia sericata to open wounds caused mostly by diabetic foot ulcers, according to Science Daily

Such a kind of alternative biotherapy is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has been labelled as maggot debridement therapy (MDT). In this form of biosurgery the enhanced maggots immaculately eradicate dead tissue while decontaminating the affected section of the wound. In spite of these actions, they were quick to note that the random execution of the study claimed proof of a much faster healing time of the wounds.

Max Scott, a North Carolina State University professor of entomology revealed in the report that it was via a two-fold task in which they obtained the construction and the discharge of the protein known as Platelet-derived growth factor subunit B (PDGF-BB). For the most part, the maggots were exposed to a heat source of up to 37°C. However, the researchers realized that despite the creation of PDGF-BB, this did not register for both the excretions and the secretions of the maggots. 

"It is helpful to know that a heat-inducible system can work for certain proteins in the green bottle fly, but the fact that maggots did not secrete the human growth factor makes this technique a non-starter for clinical applications like MDT," Scott mentioned to NC State News. 

"We see this as a proof-of-principle study for the future development of engineered L. sericata strains that express a variety of growth factors and anti-microbial peptides with the long-term aim of developing a cost-effective means for wound treatment that could save people from amputation and other harmful effects of diabetes," the entomologist added who also shared the study along with colleagues from Massey University of New Zealand.  

Sources:

https://news.ncsu.edu/2016/03/modified-maggots-could-help-human-wound-healing/ 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323185649.htm 

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