Russian scientists have learned how to prevent the formation of scars during the healing of skin wounds. They developed bioengineering particles and conducted animal experiments with them.
As described in the Russian Science Foundation, scientists of the Institute of Molecular Biology conducted the experiments. They used the regenerative potential of two types of polymer particles — some derived from silk silkworm protein, and the latter from spider silk molecular protein.
In fact, we have dissolved the cocoon and the web to the molecular structure. Proteins have been isolated from the resulting solution, based on which a suspension of particles has already been obtained, explained the author of the work, junior researcher of the institute Maxim Nosenko.
Then, several mice were injected with the resulting drug in the wound area. Other mice did not receive the drug to provide the ground for comparison. After that, scientists monitored the animals for 20 days.
According to the scientist, the wounds healed after about a week, and the most important process began – scarring.
“By the end of the experiment, we saw that the mice to which the particles were injected, the scars remained very small. Other mice had several times more scars”, he noted.
In addition, scientists have concluded that in animals whose wounds have been shattered by the preparation, the healing process itself was faster than in others. Thus, they proved that such microparticles are able to influence the body’s immunity, and the inflammatory process, which is key in wound healing.
According to Nosenko, now only silkworm silk proteins are used in practical medicine – they are made of threads for sewing incisions during surgical operations. The protein of spider silk is not enough studied so far even in the field of science. After the experiment, the scientists hope that the new properties of these proteins in the near future can be used to treat injuries of people.
