In vitro evaluation of the hyaluronic acid/alginate composite powder for topical haemostasis and wound healing

Int Wound J. 2020 Apr;17(2):394-404. doi: 10.1111/iwj.13285. Epub 2019 Dec 16.

Abstract

The use of haemostatic agents can provide life-saving treatment for patients who suffer from massive bleeding in both prehospital and intraoperative conditions. However, there are still urgent demands for novel haemostatic materials that exhibit better haemostatic activity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability than existing products. In the present study, we aim to evaluate the feasibility of new wound dressing, RapidClot, for treating uncontrolled haemorrhage through a series of in vitro assessments to determine the swelling ratio, clotting time, enzymatic degradation, haemolytic activity, cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, and migration. The results indicated that the RapidClot revealed better water adsorption capacity and shorter blood clotting time (132.7 seconds) than two commercially available haemostatic agents Celox (378.7 seconds) and WoundSeal (705.3 seconds). Additionally, the RapidClot dressing exhibited a similar level of degradability in the presence of hyaluronidase and lysozyme as that of Celox, whereas negligible degradation of WoundSeal was obtained. Although both Celox and RapidClot revealed a similar level in cell viability (above than 90%) against NIH/3 T3 fibroblasts, improved cell proliferation and migration could be obtained in RapidClot. Taking together, our results demonstrated that RapidClot could possess a great potential for serving as an efficient healing dressing with haemorrhage control ability.

Keywords: biodegradation; cytocompatibility; fibroblast; haemorrhage control; haemostatic powder.

MeSH terms

  • Alginates / therapeutic use*
  • Hemorrhage / therapy*
  • Hemostasis / drug effects*
  • Hyaluronic Acid / therapeutic use*
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Powders / therapeutic use*
  • Wound Healing / drug effects*
  • Wounds and Injuries / drug therapy*

Substances

  • Alginates
  • Powders
  • Hyaluronic Acid