Kaolin loaded gelatin sponges for rapid and effective hemostasis and accelerated wound healing

Abstract

Severe trauma with massive active blood loss, including liver and spleen rupture, arterial bleeding and pelvic fracture, will lead disability, malformation and even death. Therefore, it is very important to develop new, fast and efficient hemostatic materials. In this study, a novel Gelatin/Kaolin (GE/KA) composite sponge was developed. Meanwhile, to further investigate the effect of kaolin content on sponge properties, we prepared four types of sponges: GE/5% KA, GE/10% KA, GE/15% KA and GE/20% KA. The results of coagulation test in vitro showed that compared to the other groups, there were more activated adhered platelets and red blood cells on the surface of GE/15% KA. The results of hemostasis test in vivo showed that compared to other experimental groups, the GE/15% KA group had significantly less hemostasis time (liver hemostasis model: 69.50 ± 2.81 s; femoral artery hemostasis model: 75.17 ± 3.06 s) and bleeding volume (liver hemostasis model: 219.02 ± 10.39 mg; femoral artery hemostasis model: 948.00 ± 50.69 mg), and was similar to the commercial hemostasis material group. Additionally, the material properties of the sponge were characterized and its biocompatibility was verified as well through cell experiments and in vivo embedding experiments. All these results indicate that the optimal content of kaolin is 15%, which provides a theoretical basis for subsequent research. All in all, the novel GE/KA composite sponge prepared in this study can be used as a multifunctional hemostatic wound dressing for the treatment of complex wounds under various trauma scenes.

Keywords:

• Wound hemostasis
• incompressible organs bleeding
• quick hemostatic material
• gelatin/kaolin composite sponge

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, J.Z., M.L. and J.C.; Methodology, J.Z., M.L. and J.C.; Software, M.L.; Validation, B.C.; Formal Analysis, J.Z. and M.L.; Investigation, J.Z., M.L. and J.C.; Resources, J.Z. and M.L.; Data Curation, J.Z., M.L. and J.C.; Writing - Original Draft Preparation, J.Z., M.L. and J.C.; Writing–Review & Editing, J.C. and B.C.; Visualization, J.Z., M.L. and J.C.; Supervision, T.W., W.G. and Y.W.; Project Administration, T.W., W.G. and Y.W.; Funding Acquisition, M.L., G.W. and Y.W.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [National Key R&D Program of China #1] under Grant [number 2022YFC3006200]; [Natural Science Foundation of China #2] under Grant [number 81901251, 82003992, 82002471]; [Beijing Natural Science Foundation #3] under Grant [number 7232185] and [Peking University People’s Hospital Scientific Research Development Funds #5] under Grant [number RDJP2023-17, RDJP2023-29, RDX2023-10, RZ2023-01].