Scientists in Taiwan recently studied the most recent advances and potential applications of tiny electric generators for a faster wound healing process in a newly published issue of a journal.
As specified in a Phys.org report, tiny dressings that produce electricity as a reaction to movement could "accelerate wound healing and tissue regeneration."
The natural wound healing process includes multifaceted interactions between blood vessels, ions, cells genes, and the immune system, with each player stimulated by an arrangement of molecular events.
An essential part of this process is generating a weak electric field by the impaired epithelium, the cell layer that covers the tissue.
The electric field is forming as an outcome of an ion gradient in the wound bed, playing a vital role in directing cell migration and promoting the formation of blood vessels in the area.
Synthetic Materials Producing Electric Current when Exposed to Mechanical Stress
In the mid-to-late-1900s, scientists found that stimulating tissue with an electric field could enhance wound healing.
Present research in this field is currently focused on developing tiny, wearable, and inexpensive patches that are not overloaded by external electrical tools.
This has led to a study on "piezoelectric materials," which include natural materials such as crystals, wool, silk, hair, bone, and rubber, as well as synthetic materials like ceramics, polymers, and quartz analogs. Such materials produce an electric current when they are exposed to mechanical stress.
'Nanogenerators'
Essentially, the so-called "nanogenerators" developed through synthetic materials are particularly promising.
For instance, some teams of scientists are discovering the use of self-powered piezoelectric nanogenerators developed with zinc oxide nanorods on a polydimethylsiloxane matrix for fast-tracking wound healing.
Zinc oxide has the edge of being both piezoelectric and biocompatible. Other researchers use scaffolds made from polyurethane and polyvinylidene fluoride or PVDV because of their high piezoelectricity chemical stability, effortless manufacturing, and biocompatibility.
These and the other piezoelectric nanogenerators have exhibited promising results in both animal and laboratory experiments.
Triboelectric Nanogenerator
Another type of device, also known as a triboelectric nanogenerator or TENG, generates an electric current when a pair of interfacing materials come into and out of contact with each other.
In the study published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, researchers have experimented with this device that produces electricity from breathing movements, for example, to accelerate wound healing in rats.
They have loaded TENG patches with antibiotics to enable wound healing by treating localized infections.
According to Zhong-Hong Lin, a bioengineer at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators are ideal candidates for "self-assisted wound healing" because of their lightweight, elasticity, flexibility, and biocompatibility.
The Need to 'Fit-for-Size'
As specified in a Nano Magazine report, the bioengineer added, there are still numerous "bottlenecks to their clinical application." For instance, they need to be customized to be "fit-for-size," as there is a wide variation in wound dimensions.
Moreover, Added Lin, there is a need for them to be firmly attached without being adversely affected or corroded by the fluids that exude naturally from wounds.
He also said their future aim is to be able to develop cost-effective and highly effective wound dressing systems "for practical clinical applications."
Related information about wound healing is shown on Seeker's YouTube video below:
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