Multi-colored and printed bandages add a bit more fun even with the nuisance of wounds, but a new type of bandage isn't only way cooler than the fun, printed bandages everybody loves. It's also more effective because of its faster healing power.
This smart bandage can actually suck in bacteria and therefore speed up healing.
Researchers from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia are developing a new type of bandage through innovative microfiber meshes that will not only protect the wound from getting further infected, but will more quickly get rid of the bacteria that's slowing down healing.
"For most people, wounds heal quickly. But for some people, the repair process gets stuck and so wounds take much longer to heal," said PhD candidate Martina Abrigo, highlighting that a slow repair process is what makes people vulnerable. This research is Abrigo's focus as a PhD candidate at the University.
To come up with a smart bandage, Abrigo's team used a technique called electrospinning which involves squeezing out of an electrified nozzle polymer filaments that are a hundred times thinner than a strand of human hair. This resulted in nanofiber meshes capable of drawing bacteria from wound.
The first phase of the researcher involved polymer fibers placed on top of films of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium found in chronic wound infection. The bacterium was seen to quickly attach to the fibers. The researchers also saw that when the fibers were smaller than a single bacteria, fewer cells stuck to the fibers, which died attempting to wrap around the fiber.
The second phase looked at nanofibers that were coated with different compounds and the bacteria Escherichia coli which is also commonly involved with chronic wounds. The team found the bacterial rapidly attaching to the fibers that were coated with allylamine regardless of the size of the fiber. Fibers that were coated with acrylic acid, on the other hand, did not attract the bacteria.
The third phase of the study whose findings have not yet been published, involved nanofiber meshes that have been used on tissue-engineered skin models. This phase, which was conducted in partnership with the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, also indicates similar effects of the nanofibers when used on actual tissue.
A paper on the responses of bacteria to differently-sized meshes was published online in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Abrigo was able to conduct the study through the Chancellor's Research Award at Swinburne.
Photo: Sean Hobson | Flickr
