Semitransparent bandages based on chitosan and extracellular matrix for photochemical tissue bonding

Samuel J Frost,Richard Wuhrer,Simon Myers,Antonio Lauto,Damia Mawad

doi:10.1186/s12938-018-0444-1

Abstract

BackgroundExtracellular matrices (ECMs) are often used in reconstructive surgery to enhance tissue regeneration and remodeling. Sutures and staples are currently used to fix ECMs to tissue although they can be invasive devices. Other sutureless and less invasive techniques, such as photochemical tissue bonding, cannot be coupled to ECMs because of their intrinsic opacity to light.ResultsWe succeeded in fabricating a biocompatible and adhesive device that is based on ovine forestomach matrix (OFM) and a chitosan adhesive. The natural opacity of the OFM has been overcome by adding the adhesive into the matrix that allows for the light to effectively penetrate through it. The OFM-chitosan device is semitransparent (attenuation length ~ 106 µm) and can be photoactivated by green light to bond to tissue. This device does not require sutures or staples and guarantees a bonding strength of ~ 23 kPa.ConclusionsA new semitransparent and biocompatible bandage has been successfully fabricated and characterized for sutureless tissue bonding.

Highlights

Extracellular matrices (ECMs) are often used in reconstructive surgery to enhance tissue regeneration and remodeling
The water in the integrated adhesive is mostly responsible for the semi-transparency of the bandages: light is guided inside the bandage because of the adhesive that is a denser medium than air
Our study shows that coupling light with an extracellular matrix is possible because of the integrated chitosan adhesive that transformed the opaque matrix into a semitransparent bandage

Summary

Introduction

Extracellular matrices (ECMs) are often used in reconstructive surgery to enhance tissue regeneration and remodeling. The OFM-chitosan device is semitransparent (attenuation length ~ 106 μm) and can be photoactivated by green light to bond to tissue This device does not require sutures or staples and guarantees a bonding strength of ~ 23 kPa. Conclusions: A new semitransparent and biocompatible bandage has been successfully fabricated and characterized for sutureless tissue bonding. Extracellular matrices have been used successfully in a vast array of clinical procedures including hernia repair [1,2,3,4], anal fistulas [5], urethral and cardiovascular reconstruction [3, 6] During these procedures, it has remained common practice to use either sutures or staples to affix the ECM scaffold to tissue. The mechanism of photochemical bonding is still under investigation it is speculated that rose bengal has the ability to produce singlet oxygen upon light irradiation, which promotes crosslinking between the amino groups of collagen in the tissue

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