Nanofibrous Electrospun Patches Fabricated from Biodegradable Polyesters Provide Effective Hemorrhage Control

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Hemostasis Research

Background:

• Uncontrolled hemorrhage is a leading cause of preventable death.
• Current topical hemostats have limitations including complications and training needs.
• Understanding chemical structure-hemostatic property relationships is lacking for current hemostats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and test novel hemostatic electrospun patches (EPs) with specific functional groups.
• To evaluate the procoagulant efficacy of EPs with carboxylic acid (-COOH) and primary amine (-NH2) groups.
• To compare the performance of EPs against traditional hemostatic methods.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of electrospun patches functionalized with -COOH and -NH2 groups.
• In vitro whole blood clotting assays to assess clotting acceleration.
• In vivo testing using a mouse liver hemorrhage model to evaluate bleeding control and wound closure.

Main Results:

• EPs significantly accelerated whole blood clotting in vitro, with -COOH EPs showing superior performance.
• In vivo, EPs reduced bleeding times by approximately threefold compared to cotton gauze.
• -COOH EPs demonstrated enhanced clot-mediated tissue adhesion and wound closure compared to -NH2 EPs and gauze.

Conclusions:

• Functionalized electrospun patches offer a promising new approach to topical hemostasis.
• -COOH functionalization enhances both clotting efficiency and tissue adhesion for improved wound closure.
• EPs provide a superior alternative to conventional hemostatic methods by promoting effective clot formation and adhesion.