Green Papaya-based Hydrogel Dressing for Debridement of Late-stage Diabetic Foot Ulcers in Grenada

Abstract

The Caribbean region reports the world’s highest lower-extremity amputation rates, with approximately 80% of Grenadian patients presenting with advanced diabetic foot ulcers requiring enzymatic debridement. Current treatment costs of $50–$150 weekly are financially prohibitive for households with a median annual income of $8,000, creating a critical need for affordable, locally-sourced wound care. WoundWorks Bio developed a low-cost enzymatic debridement hydrogel that improves upon the local practice of applying green papaya shavings to wounds by extracting concentrated papain and incorporating it with 10% w/v urea. Our device utilizes a dual-molecular-weight PEG matrix optimized at pH 6.5 to manage wound exudate through a 78.46% swelling ratio while facilitating the controlled release of the enzymatic solution to digest necrotic tissue. Verification testing using an Instron mechanical tester demonstrated a 125% reduction in the tensile strength of gelatin-based tissue surrogates, validating the efficacy of the papain-urea solution in degrading structural proteins. Furthermore, Bradford assays confirmed active enzyme presence within the formulation, while weight loss experiments showed that the concentrated active solution achieved 45.79% degradation of solid substrates. By reducing production costs by 90% to under $10 per week, this system offers a sustainable maintenance therapy that addresses the economic and clinical barriers to limb-saving wound care in resource-limited settings.

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