Scientists at Rice University have developed a new hydrogel infused with snake venom that can be drawn to a wound and stop bleeding in just six seconds.
The team designed a nanofiber hydrogel that features batroxobin, a snake venom found in two species of South American vipers. In 1936, the blood-clotting capabilities of batroxobin were discovered and used in therapies to treat thrombosis and to control bleeding during surgeries. While its blog-clotting properties have long been developed, researchers combined it with hydrogel to create a promising application.
“It’s interesting that you can take something so deadly and turn it into something that has the potential to save lives,” said Jeffrey Hartgerink, chemist at Rice University.
The batroxobin used in this research is not the direct venom that would come from a real-life hissing snake. Rather, it is genetically modified and then purified to get rid of any dangerous toxins.
By combining the batroxobin and nanofibers into a syringe, the researchers found themselves with an injectable liquid they named SB50. Testing revealed that when the liquid was injected at the site of the wound, the nanofibers assembled themselves into a gel that stopped the bleeding within six seconds. Poking at the wound following the cure did not open it back up.
One solution the scientists say the gel can be used for is when working with patients who take the anti-coagulant drug heparin, which blocks an enzyme called thrombin that initiates natural clotting and prevents blood loss.
“Batroxobin is also an enzyme with similar function to thrombin, but its function is not blocked by heparin,” said Hartgerink. “This is important because surgical bleeding in patients taking heparin can be a serious problem. The use of batroxobin allows us to get around this problem because it can immediately start the clotting process, regardless of whether heparin is there or not.”
Althoguh Batroxobin is already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the new hydrogel is not. It’s expected to undergo several more years of testing SB50 before it is passed for medical use.
The findings from the research can be found here.
Source: Gizmag
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