Surgical glue has been invented by scientists that can aid in sealing the wounds in a minute.This adhesive, known as MeTro, is a groundbreaking creation that can seal the wounds and avoid the need for stitches.
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Here's all you need to know about the surgical glue:
1. This adhesive has been developed by researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia and Harvard University in the US. The 'squirtable' elastic glue is great for sealing wounded tissues which expand and relax continuously, like the lungs, hearts and arteries, where there is a risk for the stitches to re-open.
2. MeTro works on internal wounds which are often difficult to reach and necessarily need staples or sutures as other sealants don't turn out to be that effective because of the presence of the body fluid. This gel-like material had quickly sealed the slit in the arteries and lungs of rodents and even pigs successfully without the need of staples or sutures.
"The beauty of the MeTro formulation is that, as soon as it comes in contact with tissue surfaces, it solidifies into a gel-like phase without running away," said the lead author of the study Nasim Annabi, assistant professor at Northeastern University in the US.
"We then further stabilise it by curing it on-site with a short light-mediated cross-linking treatment. This allows the sealant to be very accurately placed and to tightly bond and interlock with structures on the tissue surface," Annabi explained.
3. The glue takes just 60 seconds to set in once it is treated with UV light. The built-in degrading enzyme present in the glue can be modified to find out how many hours or months the sealant will last for, this helps in knowing how much time would be needed for the wound to heal.
4. This surgical glue is a combination of elastic protein technologies and light-sensitive molecules.
"The process resembles that of silicone sealants used around bathroom and kitchen tiles. When you watch MeTro, you can see it act like a liquid, filling the gaps and conforming to the shape of the wound," said Anthony Weiss from the University of Sydney.
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5. Weiss further explained that the glue can be easily squirted on the cavity or wound and it responds well biologically and interfaces closely with human tissue to promote healing.
"The potential applications are powerful – from treating serious internal wounds at emergency sites such as following car accidents and in war zones, as well as improving hospital surgeries," he said.
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"MeTro seems to remain stable over the period that wounds need to heal in demanding mechanical conditions and later it degrades without any signs of toxicity," said Ali Khademhosseini from Harvard Medical School.
"It checks off all the boxes of a highly versatile and efficient surgical sealant with potential also beyond pulmonary and vascular suture and staple-less applications," he concluded.
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