In dementia caregiving one develops a keen sense of the importance of preventing pressure sores from developing
and a real wish that better treatments could be developed to help when sores do develop. The below appears to be
a real breakthrough. Using what appears to be GRAS ingredients (chitosan, HA, and mitoQ) they created a treatment
that rapidly reversed sores in multiple animal models. Hopefully the FDA might find a way to allow this to be
rapidly moved through clinical trials on a compassionate basis. A substantial number of dementia patients develop fatal
episodes related to these sores while also undergoing excruciating pain. This should add some sense of urgency to moving this treatment to the public. The article does not make the connection to dementia patients and their pressure sores, though if this connection does in fact exist, as it logically should, then it would be ethically unacceptable for this not to be made available on an expedited basis.
Going through regulatory channels can be the optimal method to protect everyone against risk and faulty science, though if the regulatory path were to become endlessly obstructed here is the less favored DIY synth route:
"Membranes were prepared as follows: chitosan (0.5 g) was dissolved in 20 mL of aqueous acetic acid (2%, v/v). Hyaluronan (50 mg) was dissolved overnight (16 h) separately in 4 mL of water in accordance with Collins et al. (2013) [33]. Both solutions were then mixed together, and 1 mL of the aqueous stock MitoQ solution (1.47 mg/mL) was admixed into the homogeneous chitosan-hyaluronan solution. Next, 1 mL of glycerol was added into the chitosan-hyaluronan-MitoQ solution to function as a plasticizer. The multicomponent solution with a total volume of 25 mL was cast on a clean Petri dish (diameter = 7 cm) and the solvent was allowed to evaporate at room temperature over 48 h. The dry membrane, which was separated from the Petri dish, was rinsed for approx. 30 s in the aqueous NaOH solution (1 M). During this procedure, the traces of acetic acid, still adsorbed on the membrane, were removed thoroughly. The membrane was then washed for approx. 2 min in distilled water. Finally, the wet membrane was spread out and attached to a clean glass support with clamps, and allowed to dry for 24 h at room temperature. Prepared membranes were held between two polyethylene sheets and stored in a refrigerator (4 °C)."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29642447
MitoQ Loaded Chitosan-Hyaluronan Composite Membranes for Wound Healing
