Skin is the largest organ covering the entire outside of the body. Our skin is tough and pliable, forming the body’s protective shield against heat, light, chemical, and physical action. Whenever the barrier is compromised with a wound or a cut, first, our skin needs to kick into action.
But, mostly, it appears to be scar tissue. Although protein is essential for normal skin tissue. When it’s growing to heal wounds, the collagen fibers form a scar. Doctors can do their best to minimize scar tissue from forming, but most of the time, there’s little they can do to prevent a scar altogether.
There’s also a substance called decorin, which helps organize collagen into a neater structure. However, it is expensive and tricky to produce in large enough quantities for medical use.
So, by having concern about it, researchers have come up with a new substance that heals wounds from mussel proteins.e., healing power from mussels.
Scientists from the Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea have invented a new scar glue from mussel adhesive protein. They use the decorin mechanism and combine it with a peptide that binds to collagen.
Scientists tested their newly invented glue on rats. They spread the glue on deep, 8-millimetre-wide (0.3 inches) wounds and shielded with plastic to keep the healing environment moist.
The glue shows effects in just ten days. The wounds were 99% closed up by day 11 and were fully recovered with very little scarring by day 28. In addition, the rats had essentially grown new skin on their wounds, with all the usual features.
Scientists noted, “It was possible because the glue is better at regulating collagen fiber growth as opposed to skin that’s left to its own devices to repair itself.”
Now, researchers plan to test the glue on pig skin, which is largely similar to ours.
Allison Cowin at the University of South Australia said, “If this can be replicated in humans, it might be the next big thing for scar therapy.”
Journal Reference
- Jeon, E. Y., Choi, B., Jung, D., Hwang, B. H., & Cha, H. J. (2017). Natural healing-inspired collagen-targeting surgical protein glue for accelerated scarless skin regeneration. Biomaterials, 134, 154-165. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.04.041