Derived from the shells of crustaceans, insects, and some fungi, chitosan has been used for thousands of years. People have long known about its anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, and blood clotting abilities. Now, researchers are using it to make nano-bandages.

They believe these will revolutionize hemorrhage treatment on the battle field, in disasters, and on the operating table.

What is Chitosan?

Chitosan is a versatile and easily harvested sugar, making it useful for a number of industries, both historically and today. For example, it is used as a fining agent for wine makers, a binding agent in water filtration, as a plant growth enhancer, as an environmentally friendly biopesticide, and as an additive in wound dressings.

In fact, when the 5,300 year old, naturally mummified corpse of Ötzi was found in the Alps in 1991, researchers discovered that he was carrying birch fungus. Birch fungus has high concentrations of chitosan. While this could have been for other uses, the most likely was for its medicinal properties.

New Research

A team from Texas A&M and Assiut University published a paper in Nature in which they demonstrate a technique to spin chitosan into nano-fibers and interweave them into a 3-D honeycomb shaped lattice. This provides far greater surface area that can interact with the patient’s wound, substantially increasing its effectiveness. This team also incorporated specially designed hydrogels that can bind with the chitosan fibers and dissolve within 7 days. Once applied to a wound the bandage does not need to be replaced. This reduces the likelihood of infection, re-bleeding, and the amount of medical supplies needed.

Furthermore, a team from Taiwan created an injectable hydrogel made from nano-fibers of chitosan and cellulose. Recently published in Nature, their paper shows the combination of these nano-fibers forms self healing bonds, which allows for rapid tissue regeneration. The researchers also infused this hydrogel with neural stem cells, which were shown to help regenerate brain damage in zebrafish.

Both teams are confident their work will save countless lives, as hemorrhage is among the leading causes of death. The authors of the first study stated “Hemorrhage is responsible for more than 35 percent of pre-hospital deaths and more than 40 percent of deaths within the first 24 hours of injury.”

However, researchers acknowledge much more work needs to be done, as testing has only been done on animals.

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