Better than gauze
Why are electric bandages more effective than conventional bandages
Kirill Stasevich, "Science and Life"
It has long been known that a weak electric current accelerates wound healing, and electric bandages were also invented quite a long time ago, but until now it was not entirely clear why such bandages work better than conventional ones. A recent article in Scientific Reports (Dusane et al., Electroceutical Treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms) states that at least one of the reasons for the greater effectiveness of electric bandages is that they kill bacteria better than conventional bandages with medications.
Microbes form biofilms on a solid substrate: bacteria and other microorganisms are immersed in an intercellular matrix consisting of polymer biomolecules – proteins, fats, sugars, DNA. Such biofilms appear on the skin in the same way as on any other surface. Sitting in the wound, bacteria prevent it from healing, and the intercellular substance in which the microbes are immersed is quite strong and dense, and medicinal substances cannot always penetrate the biofilm.
Researchers from Ohio State University was covered with an electric bandage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria that grew on a nutrient medium. Through the bandage there was a silver thread connected to a six-volt battery. It turned out that electricity kills bacteria, however, they did not start to die right away, but with some delay. On the other hand, the bacteria continued to die for another two days after the current was turned off.
With the help of an electron microscope, it was possible to see that the biofilms were destroyed under the electric binding. Judging by the chemical reactions that took place in the nutrient medium, the active substance was hypochlorous acid. Even in very dilute solutions, it decays to form atomic oxygen, a strong oxidizer. Hypochlorous acid appeared from the substances available in the nutrient medium under the influence of electricity, destroyed the biofilm and killed bacteria.
It is possible that this is not the only reason why electric bandages are more effective than conventional bandages. But nothing prevents us from trying to create new modifications of medical dressings, in which such a mechanism of destruction of biofilms works especially effectively.
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