MeTro will seal up any wounds
Biologists from the USA have created a "super glue" for gluing wounds
Scientists from Australia and the USA have created a unique biological "super glue" capable of gluing the edges of wounds and "stitching" together the softest and most delicate tissues, such as lungs or arteries, according to an article published in the journal Science Translational Medicine (Annabi et al., Engineering a highly elastic human protein–based sealant for surgical applications).
"The potential of using this glue is huge, starting with the "sealing" of wounds on the battlefield or after various disasters, and ending with various complex surgical operations in clinics. We have shown that our development can work in a variety of conditions and can solve those problems that cannot be eliminated with the help of other adhesives. We are ready to start experiments on humans and hope that MeTro (from me thacryloyl-substituted tro poelastin – VM) will soon start saving people's lives," said Anthony Weiss from the University of Sydney (in a press release 'Squirtable' elastic glue seals wounds in 60 seconds – VM).
One of the main problems for surgeons in operating rooms and for the military on the battlefield is that all existing methods of stopping bleeding and eliminating wounds have great disadvantages. For example, "stitching" a wound with surgical threads requires a lot of time, and ordinary super glue, the most convenient and reliable means for gluing wounds, is a very toxic and fragile substance.
In recent years, scientists have pinned great hopes on synthetic analogues of shell glue, with which they are attached to rocks. This substance works well under water, but its strength was too small to glue torn cartilage, ligaments, muscles and other organs.
On average, "clam glue" and other adhesive compounds that are safe for the body hold glued surfaces about 80-100 times worse than cartilage and ligaments attach to bones. This makes them absolutely useless for operations, as they will constantly open or break when treating large wounds.
The secret of creating such glue, as Weiss says, was hidden in the body of the person himself. Our connective tissue consists of elastin protein fibers, a very strong and at the same time flexible substance that can stretch several times and at the same time retain its shape. The properties of elastin, as scientists have recently noticed, can vary greatly depending on how its molecules are intertwined.
This is due to the fact that elastin consists of small "building blocks" – relatively short protoelastin protein molecules that are highly soluble in water. By studying their properties, Weiss and his colleagues have recently figured out how microbes can be made to produce these molecules in large quantities. This made them wonder if protoelastin could be used to create a "super glue" that would not be toxic to the body and would not be inferior in strength to human body tissues.
The problem was that scientists did not know how protoelastin molecules connect with each other and form long chains during the synthesis of elastin in connective tissue cells and in human skin. They did not guess and try to look for the answer in human or animal cells, but invented their own method of polymerization of protoelastin by mixing it with methyl methacrylate, a raw material for the production of organic glass.
This substance, as scientists note, is a thick, colorless liquid if it is stored in a dark room, and when illuminated by an ultraviolet lamp or the Sun, it quickly hardens, turning into an elastic and translucent plastic. By adding a small amount of "liquid plexiglass" to the protoelastin, the scientists obtained a kind of "super glue" that is not toxic to the body and at the same time has high flexibility and strength.
"The main advantage of our MeTro glue is that it instantly turns into a gel at the moment when it touches the surface of the skin, thanks to which it will not "run away" when treating wounds. In the future, its strength can be increased by highlighting the wound with ultraviolet light, thanks to which our glue can very precisely and at the same time reliably glue wounds," adds Nasim Annabi, a chemist from Northeastern University in Boston (USA).
According to Annabi and Weiss, their team tested the work of this glue during experiments on mice and pigs, sealing their damaged arteries and lungs. In both cases, the wound was completely healed before the glue completely dissolved, and all the operated animals survived. Biologists hope that they will soon receive permission to conduct similar experiments on volunteers, which will pave the way for the use of MeTro in clinical practice.
The interesting thing in the video below is starting from the 65th second,
and you don't have to look at the talking head at the beginning and at the end – VM.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru