Mountaineers, soldiers posted in extreme regions, winter sports enthusiasts, and those visiting/living in snow-bound area at high-altitudes like Siachen or Ladkah have now an on-site treatment available for frostbites — a medical condition involving damage to skin and tissues due to extreme cold.

Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) in Mohali, an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIAR), DRDO and Panjab University have developed a cold-stable spray gel “Nano-Spray Gel” that could be administered on-site for the immediate treatment of frostbite injuries. If frostbite is not treated promptly, it can lead to gangrene and amputation of the affected limbs.

The innovation of Nano-Spray Gel, which is a combination of NSAID (painkiller and anti-inflammatory) and clotbuster drugs (thrombolytic) for rapid relief and effective management of frostbite injury, has been published in the peer reviewed journal “American Chemical Society Biomaterials Science & Engineering”.

Frostbite can occur when the skin is exposed to a temperature of 0°C (32°F) or lower. It can be difficult to get treated quickly in remote, snowbound areas. This is also a serious medical problem for the armed forces operating in snow-bound areas at high altitudes like Siachen, Ladhak and so on, said lead author Kalpesh Vaghasiya from INST.

He said that the spray gel has been prepared using heparin, an anticoagulant that improves blood flow by reducing clotting and aiding in blood vessel repair. The researchers packaged heparin into liposomes — lipid carriers, thus helping deliver the anticoagulant deep inside the skin.

Then they embedded the heparin-loaded liposomes in a sprayable hydrogel that also contained ibuprofen (a painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug) and propylene glycol, which helped keep the spray from freezing at very low temperatures.

The researchers tested the spray gel on rats with frostbite, and found that the treatment completely healed the injuries within 14 days. In comparison, untreated injuries were only about 40 per cent healed, while wounds treated with an antibiotic cream were about 80 per cent healed.

The spray reduced levels of inflammatory cytokines at the wound site and in the blood circulation, which likely accelerated healing, the study ‘Heparin-Encapsulated Metered-Dose Topical “Nano-Spray Gel” Liposomal Formulation Ensures Rapid On-Site Management of Frostbite Injury by Inflammatory Cytokines Scavenging’ said.

Frostbite causes fluids in the skin and underlying tissues to freeze and crystallize, resulting in inflammation, decreased blood flow, and cell death. Extremities are the most affected areas because they are farther away from the body’s core and already have reduced blood flow, said the researchers.

Conventional treatments include immersing the body part in warm water, applying topical antibiotic creams or administering vasodilators, and anti-inflammatory drugs, but many of these are unavailable in isolated snowy areas, like mountaintops. Others, such as topical medications, could end up freezing themselves. The new gel can be of great help under such conditions, as per the researchers.

The other scientists involved in the innovation included Rahul Verma, Ankur Sharma, Eupa Ray, Suneera Adlakha from INST, Kushal Kumar and Sunil Kumar Hota from DIAR and Om Prakash Katare from University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh.