Slug-Inspired Glue Patches Beating Hearts

[rangerrebew]

Slug-Inspired Glue Patches Beating Hearts
By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | July 27, 2017 02:15pm ET


A new glue inspired by slug slime can mend a broken heart.

The adhesive, described today (July 27) in a new study in the journal Science, sticks to wet surfaces, including the surface of a beating heart. It isn't toxic to cells, which gives it an advantage over many surgical glues. It's not available in operating rooms just yet — its developers say that could take years — but it could potentially be approved much more quickly for applications such as closing skin wounds.   

https://www.livescience.com/59959-slug-slime-glue-patches-pig-hearts.html

[Polly Ticks]

Very interesting article.  I was curious if there might be advantages related to a lesser degree of scarring, considering the stretchiness of it, and it looks like that might be the case:

The glue was also tested in a living rat: The researchers simulated an emergency surgery by slicing the rats' liver tissue and then patching the wound with either the glue or a standard blood-staunching product called Surgiflo. They found that the new adhesive was as good at stopping the blood flow as the standard glue; the rats treated with the new glue experienced no additional hemorrhaging up to two weeks after the surgery. The Surgiflo-treated rats, however, sometimes suffered from tissue death and scar tissue, the researchers reported. The rats treated with the slime-inspired glue did not experience these side effects.