A nanocellulose coating that can reveal early signs of infection without interfering with the healing process has been developed by researchers at the University of Linköping, Sweden. El studiopublished in Materials Today Bio, es un paso más en el camino hacia a new type of herid care.
What is a deposit? This is a Sanitary product used to cover and protect a herede. Among the most traditional ones are sales, gasas, bag for the body or cohesive sales.
The skin is the largest organ in the human body. An inheritance interrupts the normal function of the skin. This can take a long time to heal, be very painful for the patient and, in the worst of the cases, cause death if it is not treated correctly. In addition, difficult-to-cure sores represent a great burden for society, since they represent approximately half of all costs of outpatient care.
In the traditional care of herids, the bandages are changed regularly every day. To check if the herida is infected, the assistance staff has to raise the deposit and perform a valuation in function of the appearance and the tests. This is a painful procedure that disturbs the healing of the sores as the rib breaks repeatedly. The risk of infection also increases each time the herid is exposed.
Researchers from the University of Linköping, in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Örebro and Luleå, han developed a bandage for herides made of nanocellulose that can reveal early signs of infection without interfering with the healing process.
“Being able to see instantly if a herida has become infected, without having to lift the bandage, open the door to a new type of herald care that can lead to more efficient care and improve the lives of patients. In addition, it can reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics”, says Daniel Aili, professor of the Division of Biophysics and Bioengineering at the University of Linköping.
The bandage is made of tight-fitting nanocellulose, This prevents bacteria and other microbes from entering. At the same time, the material allows gases and liquids to pass through, something that is important for the healing of wounds. The idea is that once applied, the bandage remains throughout the healing process. If the herida becomes infected, the deposit will change color.
Uninfected heridas have a pH value of approximately 5.5. When an infection occurs, the herita becomes increasingly basic and can have a pH value of 8 or even higher. This is because the bacteria in the herida change their surroundings to adapt to their optimal growth environment. A high pH value in herida can be detected much sooner than any pus, pain or reddening, which are the most common signs of infection.
To make the deposit show the high pH value, the researchers used bromothymol blue, BTB, a dye that changes color from yellow to blue when the pH value exceeds 7. So that BTB is used in the deposit without compromising, was loaded onto a silica material with soil pores a few nanometers in size. The silica material could also combine with the material of the bandage without compromising the nanocellulose. The result is a bandage for heridas that turn blue when there is an infection.
Infecciones de heridas a menudo are treated with antibiotics that spread throughout the body. But if the infection is detected at an early stage, the local treatment of the herida may be sufficient. Therefore, Aili and his colleagues at the University of Örebro are also developing antimicrobial substances based on the so-called lipopeptides that eliminate all types of bacteria.
“The use of antibiotics makes infections more and more problematic, since multidrug resistant bacteria are becoming more and more common. If we can combine the antimicrobial substance with the deposit, we minimize the risk of infection and reduce the excessive use of antibiotics”, says Aili.
Aili says that the new bandage for heridas and the antimicrobial substance are part of the development of a new type of herid treatment in outpatient care. But like all products that are used in medical care environments you have to go through rigorous and costly testsbelieve that five to ten years will pass before it is available there. (I)
