The traditional OK bandage only has the effect of protecting the wound and avoiding repeated friction of the wound, but in the future, this small patch will have the effect of sterilizing and accelerating wound healing due to the additional “electricity” assistance.
The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) in Los Angeles has launched an experimental new ePatch bandage based on alginate that has been used in surgical dressings. Moisture content, and then mixed with silver nanowire electrodes.
The team first chemically modified alginate and added calcium to improve the function and stability of the silver nanowires, and then printed the hydrogel on a flexible silicone template. After the template is removed, there are two electrodes that can be Connect to an external power source to create ePatches capable of covering and adapting to various wound contours.
Wound Heals almost 3 Times Faster
The TIBI team actually tested it on injured mice and found that the electrical current not only allowed the skin and other granulation cells in the experimental group to migrate to the wound, but also accelerated healing by inducing angiogenesis and reducing inflammation, compared to no treatment. The wounds of the control rats took 20 days to heal, while the wounds of the rats treated with the ePatch healed in just 7 days. The antimicrobial properties of silver also minimize the risk of infection.
For wounds, many people worry about scarring, but the team found that ePatch does not allow skin cells to stick to the silicone matrix, so tearing off the bandage will not pull the skin, and the scarring will be smaller .
The team hopes to continue to optimize the technology and select better material formulations to eventually develop a multifunctional, easy-to-manufacture and cost-effective electronic dressing that promotes and accelerates wound healing.
However, it still has to be said that although the name is the same, this ePatch has nothing to do with the ePatch that is being developed by scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and MIT in the United States to repair blood vessels.
Accelerating the treatment of wounds, it was indeed found that the angiogenesis effect of the experimental group was increased, the local blood flow was sufficient, and scarring was less likely to occur.
