Novel tissue adhesive for seroma prevention

Seroma, the accumulation of fluid in vivo remains a prevalent clinical problem, as it causes complications such as infection, flap necrosis and delay in wound healing, causing great discomfort to patients. Methods used to prevent seroma formation include tacking down the skin flap and the placement of drains, and these methods have their individual advantages and disadvantages, hence, there is an idea of gluing the skin flap and adjacent tissues together with tissue adhesive to physically close up any dead space to prevent seroma from forming. Different types of tissue adhesives that are currently available include fibrin glue, cyanoacrylate adhesives and glutaraldehyde-based adhesives, but these tissues adhesives are not suitable for large-area in vivo uses to prevent seroma formation. Recent studies on protein glue secreted by marine mussels have attracted increasing attention due to its biocompatibility and great ability in wet adhesion. Although the mechanism behind the adhesion has not been completely understood, it has been found that catechol groups within are able to generate the chemisorption needed to adhere to almost all kinds of surfaces; hence, we may develop catechol group-based tissues adhesives to prevent seroma formation. In this study, a novel aldehyde-free double-crosslinked tissue adhesive is designed and developed by constituting (1) gelatin-dopamine conjugates (containing catechol groups) – as a typical gluing macromer (2) Fe3+ – as a typical rapid crosslinker; and (3) genipin – as a typical long-term acting crosslinker.Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering