Surgical sutures are good at helping wounds heal, but too much movement can cause them to open. Chinese scientists have now turned that weakness into a strength, developing a suture that generates an electrical charge when stretched, speeding wound healing.
Suturing is a standard treatment for large, deep wounds in the skin, bringing cells on both sides of the wound into physical contact to repair the damage. Without them, injuries will heal more slowly, leave larger scars, and increase the risk of infection.
But they are not without their complications. Movement of the affected area can cause punctures and usually must be removed by a doctor after use. In a new study, scientists at China’s Donghua University solved both of these problems.
The new stitches are made of special mechano-electric fibers. Essentially, when the core and sheath layers of a fiber come into contact or separate as a result of movement, an electric field is generated, which past studies have shown can speed healing.
Sun Zhouquan and Hou Chengyi
The team tested this idea in cell cultures in the lab. The wound, which covered 69% of the surface area, was reduced to only 10.8% after 24 hours with electrosutures, while it was still 32.6% covered over the same time frame in the control group with regular sutures. I did. The key appears to be that the electrical signals accelerate the migration of fibroblasts, cells that secrete collagen and help build new connective tissue.
The researchers then moved on to experiments on rats. They found that after 10 days, the electrical sutures closed 96.5% of the rats’ wounds, while the control sutures closed only 60.4% in the same amount of time.
Finally, they tested the infection rates of electric sutures and conventional sutures. Rats treated with electric sutures had significantly lower levels of bacteria than rats treated with regular sutures, regardless of whether the wound was disinfected daily.
Other examples of using electricity to promote wound healing include systems of biosensors, batteries, and electrical stimulators. However, the new method has the advantage that everything is done passively, as the patient moves around.
Additionally, the electrical stitches are made from bioabsorbable materials, so they should be able to safely break down in the body, the researchers said. Patients would then be able to avoid the invasiveness of surgical resection.
At this stage, there is still much work to be done to prepare for human trials before reaching clinical use. But it’s an interesting idea that could ultimately help wounds heal faster and more safely.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Source: Donghua University, via Scimex
