Technical Support of Wound Healing Processes: Project Status

Abstract

The optimized wound healing (OWID) project provides technical support of wound healing processes. Advanced biophysical treatment therapies using light (photobiomodulation), negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), and electrical stimulation show biological effects. Specifically, a biphasic dose-response curve is observed where lower doses activate cells, while above a threshold, higher doses are inhibitory. However, no standard protocols and no multi-modal treatment studies determine specific therapy needs. The OWID project aims to develop a multi-modal treatment device and modelbased therapy for individualized wound healing. This work presents the OWID project status. Currently, a photobiomodulation prototype delivers red, green, and blue light ‘medicine’ at prescribed therapeutic ‘doses’. The calculation of incident light necessarily considers transmission properties of the intervening cell culture plate. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) hardware are being adapted for use in vitro. Development of mathematical models of wound healing and therapy control are supported by treatment experiment outcome measures conducted in a wounded 3D tissue model. Parameter sensitivity analysis conducted on an existing mathematical model of reepithelialization results in changing parameter values influencing cellular movement rates. Thus, the model is robust to fit model parameters to observed reepithelialization rates under treatment conditions impacting cellular activation, inhibition, and untreated controls. Developed image analysis techniques have not captured changes in wound area after photobiomodulation treatment experiments. Alternatively, EIT will be tested for wound area analysis. Additionally, live dyes will be introduced to non-invasively visualize the reepithelialization front on a smaller, cellular scale. Finally, an overall therapeutic feedback control model uses model reference adaptive control to incorporate the intrinsic biological reepithelialization mechanism, treatment loops, and treatment controller modulation at a wound state. Currently, the OWID project conducts photobiomodulation treatment experiments in vitro and has developed mathematical models. Future work includes the incorporation of multi-modal wound healing treatment experiments.

Keywords

• engineering control
• in silico
• in vitro
• personalized medicine
• photobiomodulation
• prototyping
• model guided therapy
• wound healing