Scientists are developing an e-bandage to heal wounds faster
| Dec 24, 2018, 12:06 IST
How many times have you imagined a magic spell that made your wound dramatically vanish in a minute or two? We’d be lying if we said no. The reality can be quite depressing if compared it to the dream. What if we tell you it doesn’t have to be? No, the scientists haven’t found a magic spell, a little something more conceivable.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury to reduce the healing time of an injury dramatically.
While skin has a good ability to heal itself naturally, in some chronic cases like ulcers and non-healing surgical wounds, the wound takes much longer to heal. In the past, doctors tried working with oxygen exposure and growth factor therapy on chronic wounds, but they showed limited effectiveness.
The nanogenerator converted skin movements like breathing into small electrical pulses. This current then glowed in either side of the skin to produce weak electronic pulses. The team tested the device by placing it over wounds on rats' backs.
The research found that the wounds covered by e-bandages healed in three days as opposed to the more traditional bandaging, which would take 12 days. The team attributed the faster healing of the wound to enhanced fibroblast migration, proliferation, and differentiation induced by the electric field.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury to reduce the healing time of an injury dramatically.
While skin has a good ability to heal itself naturally, in some chronic cases like ulcers and non-healing surgical wounds, the wound takes much longer to heal. In the past, doctors tried working with oxygen exposure and growth factor therapy on chronic wounds, but they showed limited effectiveness.
The nanogenerator converted skin movements like breathing into small electrical pulses. This current then glowed in either side of the skin to produce weak electronic pulses. The team tested the device by placing it over wounds on rats' backs.
The research found that the wounds covered by e-bandages healed in three days as opposed to the more traditional bandaging, which would take 12 days. The team attributed the faster healing of the wound to enhanced fibroblast migration, proliferation, and differentiation induced by the electric field.