Researchers Develop Novel Wound Dressing With Discarded Bullfrog Skin

Jul, 2022 - By SMI

This new regenerative dressing is made developed from discarded skin of bullfrog, which is expected soon to be leapfrogging to commercial use from the lab.

Chronic skin ulcers caused due to diabetes are incredibly slow to heal, which can be very painful for the patient. Now in a new study, a group of researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have revealed the development of a novel regenerative wound dressing, which they created it from discarded bullfrog skin.

Frog meat is a largely popular delicacy in many regions across the world and it is largely consumed in Singapore. This meat is harvested mainly from bullfrogs that are raise on farms and their skins are normally discarded during meat harvesting process. In this new researchers, the scientists created a process that removes impurities from frog skin and then the skin goes for blending turning into a paste. The team them extracts the pure collagen from this paste, which then they incorporate into a biocompatible, biodegradable patch. As this wound healing dressing is under development, it is expected to speed up healing process when used on a chronic wound. It will provide a porous layer for white blood cells and allow healing agents to coagulate in the wound. Then, it is to serve also as a protective barrier that will further improve the healing as it will keep the wound moist.

Moreover, according to the team, this collagen will function as structure similar to scaffolding in order for the adjacent skin cells to migrate into the wound, in the further healing stages. With time, with the reproducing skin cells, the patch starts to degrade, where it gets replaced completely by new skin. The development of this dressing is conducted in partnership with a Singapore-based medical technology company, Cuprina Wound Care Solutions, who is known to make products using alive maggots for getting rid of dead tissues from wounds. Both the technologies are planned to be used together in a human clinical trial in near the future.