The material which can be poured or injected into the wound speeds the closure of wounds, said Dr. Douglas Miller, research scientist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and one of the scientists working on the project.
In testing, Miller and his colleagues found a significant difference in closure between treated and untreated wounds in laboratory rats. The treated wounds had the same amount of healing in three days as the controls in six days, thus speeding the closure of the wound by about 50 percent.
In other words, "The size of the wound shrank more rapidly when treated with the sealant," he said.
Normally minor soft tissue wounds can repair themselves with minimal treatment, he said. However, diabetic ulcers or sores that heal slowly are another story.
Over human history, thousands of preparations and treatments have been developed to assist in wound repair, he explained. Collagen itself has long been considered a favorite material for wound treatment because it is inexpensive, easily prepared and can be readily shaped to fit the wound site, Miller said. As a natural part of the body, it also causes few allergic reactions.
"Collagen is the most abundant protein in the mammalian body, and in skin, it's about 60 percent of your total protein," he said.
"It's been described as literally the glue that holds you together. The bottom line is that collagen has been used for centuries as something to repair wounds because it is a natural component of the tissue."
But collagen treatments alone "don't bind the wound," Miller said.
Miller and the other researchers developed a matrix or mixture of collagen and other ingredients, as well as a polymerization (chemical) process that helps bind the sealant to the wound. The ma
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Contact: Edith Chenault
newsteam@agnews.tamu.edu
979-845-2886
Texas A&M University - Agricultural Communications
25-Jul-2003