Diabetic foot ulcers are characterized by hypoxia. For many patients, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the last recourse for saving the limb from amputation, for which the molecular basis is not understood. In the study titled "Hyperbaric oxygen therapy accelerates wound healing in diabetic mice," which was recently published in the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration, Dr. Mark Suckow and collaborators provide evidence that this therapy decreases the levels of an enzyme (MMP-9) detrimental to diabetic wound healing. This important observation indicates for the first time a possible mechanism by which hyperbaric oxygen therapy accelerates diabetic wound healing. Read more here.