Using sound and bubbles to make bandages stickier and longer lasting
Researchers have discovered that they can control the stickiness of adhesive bandages using ultrasound waves and bubbles. This breakthrough could lead to new advances in medical adhesives, especially in cases where adhesives are difficult to apply such as on wet skin.
鈥淏andages, glues, and stickers are common bioadhesives that are used at home or in clinics. However, they don鈥檛 usually adhere well on wet skin. It鈥檚 also challenging to control where they are applied and the strength and duration of the formed adhesion,鈥� says 捆绑SM社区 Professor Jianyu Li, who led the research team of engineers, physicists, chemists, and clinicians.
鈥淲e were surprised to find that by simply playing around with ultrasonic intensity, we can control very precisely the stickiness of adhesive bandages on many tissues,鈥� says lead author Zhenwei Ma, a former student of Professor Li and now a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia.
Ultrasound induced microbubbles mediate bioadhesion. Credit: Zhenwei Ma
Ultrasound induced bubbles control stickiness
In collaboration with physicists Professor Outi Supponen and Claire Bourquard from the Institute of Fluid Dynamics at ETH Zurich, the team experimented with ultrasound induced microbubbles to make adhesives stickier. 鈥淭he ultrasound induces many microbubbles, which transiently push the adhesives into the skin for stronger bioadhesion,鈥� says Professor Supponen. 鈥淲e can even use theoretical modeling to estimate exactly where the adhesion will happen.鈥�
Adhesive hydrogel applied on skin under ultrasound probe. Credit: Ran Huo and Jianyu LiCredit: Zhenwei Ma
Their study, published in the journal , shows that the adhesives are compatible with living tissue in rats. The adhesives can also potentially be used to deliver drugs through the skin. 鈥淭his paradigm-shifting technology will have great implications in many branches of medicine,鈥� says University of British Columbia Professor Zu-hua Gao. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited to translate this technology for applications in clinics for tissue repair, cancer therapy, and precision medicine.鈥�
鈥淏y merging mechanics, materials and biomedical engineering, we envision the broad impact of our bioadhesive technology in wearable devices, wound management, and regenerative medicine,鈥� says Professor Li, who is also a Canada Research Chair in Biomaterials and Musculoskeletal Health.
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About this study 鈥淐ontrolled tough bioadhesion mediated by ultrasound鈥� by Jianyu Li et al. was published by . DOI: |
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