Nanofibers for health
The high surface area of nanofibers, a very broad range of electrospun biocompatible and biodegradable polymers and the ability to use various active agents as additives, creates numerous areas for nanofiber utilization in the area of professional health care.
Nanofibers can be used in the following applications:
- Wound care dressings
- Tissue engineering
- Barrier garments
- Respirators
- Drug delivery materials
The primary benefits of nanofibers in these applications are:
- Faster / more effective healing
- Biodegradability
- Nanofiber structures match tissue structures – cells grow as in natural environment
- Hospital personnel protection against infection – higher efficiency than traditional materials
- Much smaller amount of drug required for the same medical effect
In contrast to traditional wound care, advanced wound dressings operate in moist environments, they require less frequent changing and help reduce pain in the wound and during dressing changes, reduce scarring and require less active materials for the same efficacy. Nanofibers can enhance these properties in acute, chronic and surgical wounds through the combination of various materials as nanofiber layers and the incorporation of active materials.
Through an exclusive partnership within the global field of wound care, our partner, HemCon Medical Technologies provides product development scale up, design transfer expertise and the transfer of technology for products utilizing Elmarco’s NanospiderTM manufacturing platform.
Roughly 1.7 million abdominal, gynecological or cardiovascular surgeries carry some risk of critical tissue adhesion, which may result in numerous postoperative complications. An adhesion barrier is a medical implant that can be used to reduce internal scarring (adhesions) following surgery by separating the internal tissues and organs while they heal. The high surface area of nanofibers and small fiber diameter allow the usage of less active materials in the prevention of post operative adhesion.
Artificial tissue engineering scaffolds can be used in cardiac valves, bone and skin replacement or cartilages. This technology uses a combination of cells, engineering and materials, methods and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions. The cells utilized are normally implanted to the relevant area in artificial scaffolds that are capable of supporting tissue formation. Nanofiber scaffolds hold many important properties, such as biodegradability in time (weeks, months), biocompatibility, variable stiffness or diverse porosity from 50 up to 500nm, to match different cell sizes. Three dimensional nanofiber structures create a more open, higher porosity structure allowing living cells to cultivate inside the nano-layer rather than just on the surface making them analogous to native extracellular matrix (ECM) in terms of both chemical composition and physical structure.
Controlled drug delivery systems are used to improve therapeutic efficacy and safety of drugs by delivering them to the site of action at a rate dictated by the need of the site environment. Drug delivery with polymer nanofibers is based on the principle that dissolution rate of drugs increases with increased surface area of both the drug and corresponding carriers. Nanofiber membranes facilitate releasing the drugs for a long period directly to the bloodstream.
Tobacco product regulations for the reduction of carbon monoxide, tar and nicotine may require new filter types with selective filtration properties. High porosity and surface area create optimal conditions for contact with passing pollutants, and, the ability to incorporate active compounds or functionalization with active chemical groups (ion exchange nanofibers) make nanofiber filters capable of capturing the highly toxic contaminants from the tobacco smoke with a negligible increase in pressure drop.
Light weight, air and water vapor permeable and breathable electrospun nanofibers can form an effective barrier in protective clothing and provide an excellent protection against infectious agents in hospital applications, such as face masks, surgical drapes and gowns.
