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A new adhesive inspired by slugs could be used for surgeries and wound repair:
Usually there's a trade-off between flexibility and stickiness, [Jianyu Li] says. Super Glue works well on dry surfaces, but it's rigid and toxic, so it would never work for patching a beating heart or a bleeding wound. Other materials are flexible but not very sticky.
[...] He and his colleagues used the slug slime as a starting point to engineer a new adhesive material that combines ingredients like those in the slug mucus with a flexible gel.
The secret to the slug slime is that it can bond to surfaces in three different ways. It contains a chemical called a primary amine that has a positive charge. When it interacts with tissues and cells, which are negatively charged, the two surfaces attract like clingy laundry in the dryer. The material can also bond chemically to tissue, and it can physically attach by intertwining surface proteins like tangled telephone cords.
Li and his colleagues created a tough gelatin-like patch that is 90 percent water from a compound secreted by algae that has similar properties as the slug mucus. The result is as sticky as super glue, stretchier than a rubber band, works on wet surfaces and isn't toxic to human cells. Li says the material sticks as well to organs as cartilage does to bone.
Tough adhesives for diverse wet surfaces (DOI: 10.1126/science.aah6362) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @12:44PM (4 children)
For minor cuts around the shop (and house) I've been using a product called New Skin for years. It sticks to skin like super glue and has a strong solvent smell, I always assumed it was related to super glue (but don't know the chemistry). As noted in tfa, it's not too flexible, so tends to crack before it wears/falls off. Somewhere I believe I read that it was developed after medic experience in Vietnam war, where original super glue Eastman 910 was used on battle wounds?
Hope that this new product is affordable, would be nice to have something better than New Skin. If they expect to sell it I recommend a product name that doesn't include "slime" or "slug"...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @02:21PM
"Bioadhesive" is a good marketing word for this; it's what was used to describe a gel-based contraceptive my wife and I tried when we were first married. My wife described the residue as "stickier than slug snot", so I'd guess the word applies here, too.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Immerman on Friday July 28 2017, @02:26PM
I think New Skin has one of the same problems as super glue - it's less toxic, but tissue won't heal through it, so you shouldn't use it inside a wound. I know I learned early on I had to hold cuts closed and apply a thick layer it across the surface and wait for it to dry - worked wonders for holding cuts closed while they healed, but if I got any *in* the cut then it wouldn't heal closed. That's one of the big improvements for medical super glues - many actually stimulate tissue growing through them, so they can hold the entire contact surface together instead of just the outside edges.
Had some fun with "bite style" wounds that had to fill with new tissue though - you can actually watch the tissue growing through the clear "skin". Seemed to stimulate more scar tissue and impede nerve growth though - I had one spot that after several weeks still hadn't gotten any feeling back - eventually ended up cutting it out the numb flesh and bandaging it normally instead, after which it healed normally again.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday July 28 2017, @07:41PM
It's called paper towels/napkins and some tape.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 29 2017, @03:00AM
It is super glue with a mild antibiotic.
I wonder about the statement in the about super glue being toxic, since it has been used in medicine for about two decades. It's all cyano acrilate as I recall.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.