How Electric Bandages Accelerate Healing

this episode of real science is brought to you by curiosity stream sign up today at curiosity stream comm slash real science and get free access to watch nebula calm us humans are fleshy vulnerable creatures all of our insides and blood vessels protected by what is our largest organ our skin it protects us from the sun's rays it cushions blows it lets us feel warmth and pleasure in pain and unfortunately for our skin it has a lot of work to do protecting us because we certainly do our best to cut burn slice scrape or otherwise abuse it like Brian who helped me come up with the idea for this video because he sliced his thumb on a food processor blade or me who fell off a scooter two hours after I started writing the script either because the universe was laughing at me or it was just trying to give me inspiration we've all done something stupid like this though maybe not as much as me but after the initial pain we barely give it a second thought as it heals up but what if the wound doesn't heal like it's supposed to if your body because of other health issues is unable to heal there is only so much our bodies can do and for people with chronic wounds this is their reality these wounds can get very nasty and they often just don't heal infections become a very serious risk caring for these types of wounds also puts the healthcare system under a huge amount of strain coming up with better wound treatments is one of Sciences greatest modern-day tasks and there is no easy answer but recent developments in bio engineering and microbiology indicate that one solution might involve something unexpected electricity and in particular electric bandages before we investigate this new technology let's first understand the normal wound healing process there are many different types of open wounds abrasion when your skin rubs or scrapes against a rough or hard surface like road rash lacerations a deep cut or tearing of your skin like getting cut with a knife or puncture a small hole caused by a long pointy object such as a needle nail or even a bullet there are more than this too there are so many ways to hurt yourself but gross this aside the way wounds heal like this is absolutely amazing when you stop to think about it the normal healing process is often called the Cascade of healing and is divided into four phases hemostasis inflammation proliferative and maturation hemostasis starts as soon as you get injured the primary goal here is to stop the bleeding within seconds of the injury the body activates the blood clotting system during this process a type of blood cell called a platelet starts to form a cluster the clot also contains a protein called fibrin which forms a net to hold the clot in place after about three hours the wound has sufficiently sealed itself and enters the inflammation phase this phase focuses on destroying any pathogens that may have entered the wound one of the most important immune cells are a type of white blood cell called macrophages that arrive to clear debris and gulping it through a process called phagocytosis this part of the process is much more complicated than this it could be a whole video by itself once the wound is cleaned out the proliferative phase begins where the wound is filled and covered first fibroblasts enter the wound and produce collagen which makes up our connective skin tissue then epithelial cells that form the outermost part of our skin cover the outside of the wound at this point the wound is fully closed but the tissue is not completely back to normal during the maturation phase the new tissue slowly gains strength and improved flexibility collagen fibers reorganize the tissue remodels and matures and there is an overall increase in tensile strength for most small injuries and for most otherwise healthy people this cascade of healing happens without issue but if a wound is large or chronic it's often not this easy chronic wounds often happen in people with diabetes for a number of reasons elevated blood glucose damages tissue reduces blood flow and can lead to damaged nerves this then can cause a loss of sensation especially in their limbs and so patients don't feel developing blisters or infections as they happen these wounds can go unnoticed and get very bad and they are often characterized by one of the deadliest and most persistent types of infections bacterial biofilms in general bacteria have two life forms during growth and proliferation in one form the bacteria exists a single independent cells and are usually the type found in acute infections these can generally be treated with antibiotics in the other form the bacteria are organized into tight clusters these clusters are known as bacterial biofilm antibiotics that can easily kill individual bacteria are often useless against the same types of cells when they form these dense communities because the bacteria in the biofilm protect themselves behind a layer of sugar polymers and proteins which the body's defenses and antibiotics cannot always penetrate this makes this type of infection very persistent and very hard to kill biofilms can also colonize medical devices and implants such as catheters prosthetic joints and heart valves 65% of hospital-acquired infections are caused by bacteria growing as biofilms there are 1.7 million of these infections annually in US hospitals alone and nearly a hundred thousand associated deaths biofilms are thought to claim as many lives as cancer every year for years scientists have come up with different ways to fight biofilms like inventing antimicrobial surfaces for hospital devices or by attempting to break down their protective coating but these methods have their limitations so this is why scientists are now battling biofilms in a totally different way with electricity killing bacteria with electricity is surprisingly not a new concept in 1992 it was reported that a low strength electric field helped to kill biofilms that formed on stainless steel this was a significant discovery but scientists did not yet know why it worked and therefore applying it elsewhere was problematic some theorized that the electricity disrupted the bacteria's electrostatic bonding with the surface or by damaging them through electroporation but it wasn't until many years later in 2015 that one possible mechanism for this electric disruption started to be revealed like with any community of organisms these bacteria that make up the biofilm have to communicate with one another it was thought for years that this communication only happened chemically but now scientists understand that they can also send messages electrically using potassium ions to propagate electrical signals much like neurons do this allows the bacteria to organize and synchronize activities across large expanses and recruit new bacteria individuals to their community this was a huge discovery and has big implications for how biofilm infections can be treated if communication is disrupted bacteria can perhaps be tricked into dispersing and made vulnerable to antibiotics or the body's defenses following this idea researchers have developed wound dressings that use an electric field to disrupt biofilm infection called w e DS or Wireless electro suitable devices one type of W e D electro chemically self generates around one volt of electricity upon contact with body fluids such as wound fluid or blood it uses a pattern of silver and zinc embedded into the fabric which when moistened generates a weak electric field without any external power supply the electricity is not enough to hurt or electrocute the patient but is enough to disrupt the bacterial biofilm one study showed that a silver zinc electrical wound dressing along with an acellular dermal matrix provided full healing within six weeks on wounds that conventional care had been unable to close and up to two years this may be because it disrupts bacterial communication in part along with generating superoxides toxic to the bacteria in addition to its bacterial fighting abilities electricity also seems to help boost the human immune response researchers found that electric charges recruit certain immune cells like macrophages to the wound site which further accelerates healing researchers determined that the electric shocks were stimulating angiogenesis which is the growth of new blood vessels these new blood vessels can then deliver more blood flow and immune cells to the damaged area allowing the wounds to heal faster the research is now focused on how to develop the technology to stimulate the same response in real-world clinical practice to make what is essentially an electronic band-aid some electro suitable devices are already FDA approved and on the market but there is still a lot of room for this technology to be refined but because electricity and wound healing seems to be beneficial in many ways it will continue to be studied rigorously hopefully with more advanced electro suta khals on the market soon wound treatment is one of the biggest strains on the healthcare system so new technologies like electric bandages could be one solution to help alleviate that pressure how hospitals treat patients largely relies on the technology and supplies available to them and the coordination of efforts of many professionals even when times are normal the logistics of this are complicated but when extreme circumstances arise the levels of coordination needed to keep everyone alive and well can feel insurmountable as we currently witness the strain the hospitals are facing due to this ongoing pandemic we are starkly reminded of how fragile it all is and how grateful we all need to be to those who are working tirelessly to keep shelves stocked patients cared for and supplies flowing to those who need them most if you want to learn more about what is being done to slow down this infectious disease you can watch coronavirus combating the outbreak on 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Channel: Real Science

Views: 241,191

Rating: 4.9447341 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: waCW-WJsaeE

Length: 12min 8sec (728 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/MikeInHD]

I love Pikachu band-aids!

[u/Koolbreeze88]

Neat. Seems like a feature that’ll be available on future doctor bots.

[u/morphite65]

Cool video, but not "food friendly"