Superglue
Bio glue forced the blood out of the pig's liver wound and sealed it in 15 seconds
Anastasia Kuznetsova-Fantoni, N+1
Engineers from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has created a bio-glue to stop bleeding, inspired by the glue of sea acorns. The oil in the developed paste displaces blood from the wound, and adhesive particles reliably seal its surface.
Bioclay stopped blood from pig liver wounds in 15 seconds and reduced blood loss compared to a fibrinogen and thrombin-based remedy. The work was published in Nature Medical Engineering (Yuk et al., Rapid and coagulation-independent haemostatic sealing by a paste inspired by barnacle glue).
Most modern hemostatic drugs enhance the body's own clotting abilities, for example, they deliver substances that promote coagulation. This process takes a relatively long time, and with bleeding, the speed of its termination is important. Gluing wounds has become a good alternative to such hemostatic agents, but drugs based on this principle have faced another problem – bleeding from the wound interferes with the adhesion of the glue to the tissue. Adhesives that have overcome this obstacle require additional intervention: ultraviolet illumination or prolonged pressure on the wound.
Xuanhe Zhao and a team of engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a paste that uses the principle of sea acorn glue. Scientists have noticed that sea acorns (genus Balanus) attach to a variety of surfaces: from animal skin to the bottoms of ships. The adhesive substance produced by sea acorns consists of a lipid matrix and adhesive proteins, which together provide a strong adhesion to the surface. Lipids clean the surface from dirt and water, and proteins are directly responsible for bonding.
The developed paste consists of silicone oils and adhesive microparticles. If the paste is pressed with a small force (10 kilopascals), the hydrophobic oil component will displace water and allow the microparticles to interact with each other and with the wound. 15 seconds after application, the paste firmly seals the wound.
The glue was tested on the liver of rats and pigs in vivo. For comparison, the researchers used another FDA–approved hemostatic agent, TachoSil, based on thrombin and fibrinogen. The bio glue stopped the blood in 15 seconds and significantly reduced blood loss (p=0.037) compared to TachoSil, which failed the task in 3 minutes of the experiment. After a month of observation, the glue was still securely fastening the wound, and it was healing well.
Before getting to the operating table, the paste will have to pass safety tests for human tissues. Although the paste completely dissolved 12 weeks after application, it is not yet clear how safe it is for the body. Researchers often turn to animals for inspiration. Chinese researchers with colleagues from Canada used an enzyme from snake venom Bothrops atrox to create a glue for wound healing. It stops the blood under the influence of visible light in less than a minute.
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