Collagen in diabetic wound healing

The management of diabetic wounds is a challenge; they are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and amputation rates among millions of individuals of the diabetic population. A state of persistent inflammation is a central component of diabetic wound chronicity. Inflammation must resolve in order to achieve healing. The overabundance of proinflammatory cytokines induces fibroblasts to secrete excess matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which degrade nonviable as well as viable collagen fibers. Collagen is an essential structural and functional component of the healing wound. As the most abundant protein found in mammals, collagen acts as a structural scaffold in tissue, maintains the structural and biological integrity of the extracellular matrix (ECM), and regulates many cellular functions from migration and differentiation to protein synthesis. These key functions of collagen allow for not only the targeting of collagen as a potential target of therapy, but also the use of collagen as a component of therapeutics aimed at correcting the underlying irregularities of diabetic wounds to achieve healing.