Written Summary of Self-propelled particles that transport cargo through flowing blood and halt hemorrhage
In the summer of 2005 my uncle punctured his femoral artery while on a biking trip. He was biking around a corner at a high speed and crashed over a fallen tree on the road. He landed on a piece of broken glass which cut through his thigh and perforated his femoral artery. Although bystanders wrapped his leg in gauze he bled out on the scene waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
This occurrence was a distant memory when I saw this news article on self-propelling particles. I was nonetheless intrigued by this new discovery. The research had only been published on the 2nd of October but was written in an engaging manner which was accessible …show more content…
To aid the process people often wrap and insulate wounds with gauze to prevent excessive blood loss. This new research however, has discovered a revolutionary way to deal with hemorrhaging. It involves loading CaCO3 with therapeutics. Usually delivering therapeutics is difficult because of the outward blood flow of the wound. However, CaCO3 particles mixed with a solid organic acid travel very quickly through aqueous solutions due to the amount of gas produced in the reaction. When CaCO3 is loaded with thrombin the process of haemostasis is significantly sped up. The researchers tested whether these self-propelling particles could prevent death from catastrophic bleeding by puncturing the femoral arteries of pigs. To ensure rapid and high-pressure bleeding holes 5mm in diameter were inflicted upon the pigs’ femoral arteries. The pigs that were treated with gauze containing the propelled thrombin had a survival rate of 100% (5 out of 5) to 3 hears whereas only 40% (2 out of 5) of the pigs survived to 3 hours with a gauze containing nonpropelled thrombin. Propelled thrombin travels about 10 times faster than non-propelled thrombin and can significantly increase an organism’s chance of survival while
In the summer of 2005 my uncle punctured his femoral artery while on a biking trip. He was biking around a corner at a high speed and crashed over a fallen tree on the road. He landed on a piece of broken glass which cut through his thigh and perforated his femoral artery. Although bystanders wrapped his leg in gauze he bled out on the scene waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
This occurrence was a distant memory when I saw this news article on self-propelling particles. I was nonetheless intrigued by this new discovery. The research had only been published on the 2nd of October but was written in an engaging manner which was accessible …show more content…
To aid the process people often wrap and insulate wounds with gauze to prevent excessive blood loss. This new research however, has discovered a revolutionary way to deal with hemorrhaging. It involves loading CaCO3 with therapeutics. Usually delivering therapeutics is difficult because of the outward blood flow of the wound. However, CaCO3 particles mixed with a solid organic acid travel very quickly through aqueous solutions due to the amount of gas produced in the reaction. When CaCO3 is loaded with thrombin the process of haemostasis is significantly sped up. The researchers tested whether these self-propelling particles could prevent death from catastrophic bleeding by puncturing the femoral arteries of pigs. To ensure rapid and high-pressure bleeding holes 5mm in diameter were inflicted upon the pigs’ femoral arteries. The pigs that were treated with gauze containing the propelled thrombin had a survival rate of 100% (5 out of 5) to 3 hears whereas only 40% (2 out of 5) of the pigs survived to 3 hours with a gauze containing nonpropelled thrombin. Propelled thrombin travels about 10 times faster than non-propelled thrombin and can significantly increase an organism’s chance of survival while