Dressings soaked in casein, a protein from cow’s milk, improved wound healing in rats.
- Casein is a protein from cow’s milk.
- Researchers have developed dressings soaked in this protein.
- They observed improved wound healing with these dressings in rats.
Casein… This is the name of the protein that makes it possible to heal faster, at least in rodents, according to the results of a new study carried out by researchers from University College London (UCL) and relayed on their website.
Healing: dressings soaked in casein on wounds
This protein is naturally present in cow’s milk. To observe its impact on healing, scientists have developed bandages soaked in casein. They then tested them on rats that had wounds. At the same time, there were two other groups: one in which the rodents had normal bandages and another where they simply had no bandages.
The researchers followed the healing of the lesions for a total of fourteen days, making analyzes – photographs, measurements, microscopic examinations – at three, seven, ten days and at the end.
Casein improves wound healing
Thus, the scientists observed that at 14 days, the wounds of the rats treated with the bandages soaked in casein had resorbed to 5.2% of their original size, compared to 31.1% in the group having dressings. normal and 45.6% in the untreated group. In other words, healing was faster for the group of rats that had the dressings soaked in casein.
“Natural materials have wonderful properties, many of which remain unknown, explains Dr. Jubair Ahmed, one of the authors of this study. We knew that casein had healing properties, our results show that it could have other medical applications, such as with these dressings. More work is needed to ensure that casein-soaked dressings are safe and effective in humans, but these early results are promising.” The authors point out that at this stage of their research, the dressings they have developed are not toxic to health.
In the event that these dressings are put on the market, they have another advantage: the price of casein, low according to the authors, which would make this treatment accessible to the greatest number.