January 30, 2017.
According to a study published in the journal Advanced Materials, a team of British researchers have succeeded in using the silk of cobwebs to make a healing and regenerating dressing.
A bandage made with synthetic spider web silk
Already in ancient times, doctors covered the wounds of injured people with spider webs silk to promote healing. These therapeutic virtues of spider webs have been known for a long time, but this is the first time that researchers have managed to synthetically reconstruct these webs to create a dressing capable of helping with healing and cell regeneration.
The researchers have indeed imagined using this silk as a tool for transporting molecules, such as antibiotics for example. In particular, they tested their discovery with levofloxacin, an antibiotic prescribed for chronic bronchitis or bacterial intestinal infections. They were thus able to observe that thanks to the synthesized spider web silk, the antibiotic could be released gradually over five days.
Tissue reconstitution without inflammatory reaction
According to Neil Thomas, one of the researchers at the University of Nottingham who took part in the work, this device “ allow rapid generation of biocompatible, mono or multi-function silk structures for possible use in a wide range of applications “. Which could prove to be extremely useful ” in the fields of tissue engineering and biomedicine “.
The researchers assured that this tissue reconstitution was done without any inflammatory reaction. It could help some patients, such as diabetics, in whom insufficient blood flow slows healing. ” It is likely that this study is just the start of a very interesting line of studies, focusing on this new spider silk. », Welcomed Sara Goodacre who co-directed this work.
Marine Rondot
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