Mussels and silkworms may soon be indirectly responsible for saving people's lives. Scientists have used proteins from both animals to develop an internal wound dressing that stops bleeding and prevents infections.
Ordinarily, in order to halt the bleeding of open wounds on internal organs (or other internal tissue), surgeons pack gauze sponges around them. Because those sponges aren't biodegradable, they have to be removed before the incision is closed. That said, sometimes a sponge may be missed, requiring a subsequent surgery for its removal.
Seeking a better-performing, leave-in alternative, Korean scientists recently looked to the mussel and the silkworm.
For some time now, researchers have been studying the natural adhesive that mussels use to cling to rocks in the wave-pounded intertidal zone. These studies have resulted in the production of synthetic versions of that adhesive, which can be used to bond items together in wet environments.
Silkworms have also been put under the microscope (both figuratively and literally) as the silk fibers that they produce are comparable to spider silk in strength, yet are considerably easier to produce – both naturally and synthetically – in usable quantities.
The new dressing, created by the Korean team, incorporates two layers of nanofibers spun from either mussel adhesive protein (MAP) or a silkworm cocoon protein known as silk fibroin (SF).
A combination of both fibers is used in the bottom layer, which is directly in contact with the wound. The MAP fibers in that layer ensure good tissue adhesion plus they contain a chemical called dihydroxyphenylalanine, which promotes the clotting of blood.
The top layer of the dressing consists entirely of alcohol-treated SF fibers, which serve two purposes. First of all, they give the material its mechanical strength. Secondly, because they're hydrophobic (water-repelling), they keep bacteria-laden fluids from getting through to the underlying wound – thus reducing the chances of infection.
And because both MAP and SF are biocompatible and biodegradable, the dressing can just be left to harmlessly dissolve inside the body. In lab tests performed on rats, use of the dressing was found to significantly reduce clotting time and blood loss.
"We have validated the exceptional hemostatic performance of a multifunctional topical adhesive hemostatic agent that is derived from nature and is based on degradable proteins in the human body," said Prof. Hyung Joon Cha of Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). "We will continue further research to assess its applicability in real-world patient care or surgical settings."
A paper on the research – which also involved scientists from Ewha Womans University and the Catholic University of Korea – was recently published in the journal Small.
Source: POSTECH
