Topical Anti-ulcerogenic Effect of the Beta-adrenergic Blockers on Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Recent Advances and Future Prospectives.

Background: Patients with diabetes suffer from major complications like Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetic Coronary Artery Disease, and Diabetic Foot ulcers (DFUs). Diabetes complications are a group of ailments whose recovery time is especially delayed, irrespective of the underlying reason. The longer duration of wound healing enhances the probability of problems like sepsis and amputation. The delayed healing makes it more critical for research focus. By understanding the molecular pathogenesis of diabetic wounds, it is quite easy to target the molecules involved in the healing of wounds. Recent research on beta-adrenergic blocking drugs has revealed that these classes of drugs possess therapeutic potential in the healing of DFUs. However, because the order of events in defective healing is adequately defined, it is possible to recognize moieties that are currently in the market that are recognized to aim at one or several identified molecular processes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore some molecules with different therapeutic categories that have demonstrated favorable effects in improving diabetic wound healing, also called the repurposing of drugs.

Method: Various databases like PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar and Web of Science (WoS) of all English language articles were searched, and relevant information was collected regarding the role of beta-adrenergic blockers in diabetic wounds or diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) using the relevant keywords for the literature review.

Result: The potential beta-blocking agents and their mechanism of action in diabetic foot ulcers were studied, and it was found that these drugs have a profound effect on diabetic foot ulcer healing as per reported literatures.

Conclusion: There is a need to move forward from preclinical studies to clinical studies to analyze clinical findings to determine the effectiveness and safety of some beta-antagonists in diabetic foot ulcer treatment.