Electroshock for bacteria infecting wounds
The new electronic patch will cope where antibiotics are powerless
Margarita Paimakova, Vesti
Often bandages, which should prevent contamination of the wound, on the contrary, become breeding grounds for bacteria. To solve this problem, American scientists have created a bandage that will promote wound healing. They used an electrostimulation method that helps kill most bacteria, including those resistant to drugs that cause infections that are difficult to treat later.
It has long been known that electrical stimulation accelerates the healing process, but scientists have not fully understood how it works. The results of a study conducted earlier this year (Ud-Din et al., Angiogenesis Is Induced and Wound Size Is Reduced by Electrical Stimulation in an Acute Wound Healing Model in Human Skin) indicated that electrical stimulation triggers a process known as angiogenesis. It promotes the formation of new blood vessels and increases blood flow to the affected area.
Experts from the University of Washington have demonstrated that during this process, hydrogen peroxide is formed on the surface of the electrode. This compound is known to work effectively as a disinfectant.
Diagram from an article in Nature Scientific Reports (see below – VM)
A team of researchers passed an electric current through colonies of drug-resistant bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii. As a result, almost the entire population was destroyed within 24 hours (only 1/10000 microorganisms remained from the original population). The doctors also tested the effectiveness of the technique on pig tissues and again destroyed most of the bacteria, without affecting the surrounding healthy tissue in any way.
Micrographs showing bacterial populations up to (left)
and after applying the patch with an electric current
(photo by Washington State University)
Inspired by these results, the researchers used a carbon-based, conductive material to create an "electronic framework", which was then applied to a "Band-Aid". Scientists have discovered that an electric current passing through tissues causes the constant production of hydrogen peroxide, necessary to kill all bacteria.
"Many scientists have already tried to act in this way," comments one of the authors of the article, Haluk Beyenal. – Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Our fundamental research took several years and as a result was crowned with success: we were able to gain control over electrochemical reactions."
According to the researchers, this approach can become an alternative to antibiotics. The widespread use of antibiotics has led to the development of drug-resistant bacterial strains that make treatment extremely difficult. A team of researchers from the USA claims that bacteria will not be able to develop resistance to electrical stimulation.
Currently, scientists plan to test their invention on other types of bacteria, as well as improve the effectiveness of their "patch" and obtain a patent for the invention.
A scientific article describing the innovation was published by the journal Nature Scientific Reports (Sultana et al., Electrochemical scaffold generates localized, low concentration of hydrogen peroxide that inhibits bacterial pathogens and biofilms).
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18.11.2015