New Technology for Developing Suture Threads: writing nursing essays

The article “Effect of Different Carboxylic Acids as Solvent on Chitosan Fibers Production by Wet Spinning” by Rita de Cássia Alves Leal Cruz, Luana Geovanna Marques Diniz, Hugo Miguel Lisboa, Marcus Vinicius Lia Fook, published in the Revista Materia journal, documents a new investigation of a potential material for threads for sutures. Chitosan is obtained from chitin, a naturally occurring material that is abundant in crustaceans. Biocompatibility of chitin and therefore chitosan, makes the latter a preferable material for medical applications. Chitosan is tolerable to the immune system and is usually degraded by physiological processes in time. These characteristics make the material suitable for medicinal purposes as well as medical procedures. The polymer chitosan is produced by deacetylation of chitin found in crustaceans. In their paper, the scientists document a study that presents several alternative methods of producing chitosan suture threads.

The authors document the quality of fibers that comes from different methods of deacetylation of chitin. Several acids were used to create chitosan fibers of different physical properties in the process of identifying the best fibers for particular applications. Acetic acid, malic acid, and lactic acid were each used with two different solutions of dissolved chitosan material with different concentrations of 2% and 2.5%. For all the six trials, fibers were obtained using a syringe through which the solution was extruded as 20ml per hour. The chitosan was coagulated in an ethanol and sodium hydroxide solution. The fibers were then washed in 50% ethanol and 50% distilled water solution. Drying was then done at room temperature. Further, the fibers were subjected to spectroscopy as well as tensile strength tests. While the tests were performed, dimensions of the fibers were measured using digital instruments.

The larger diameters of fibers produced using lactic acid compared to that of the fibers produced using acetic acid shows that the acid embedded itself within the chitosan chemical structure, making the fiber swell. Fibers with larger polymeric chains, this is to say that fibers with larger complex molecule chains, were found to be more absorbent.

According to the study, it is possible to produce fibers for applications as threads for sutures and still modify their properties accordingly. The surgical thread was produced by wet spinning of dissolved chitosan. This is one method of producing thread for sutures according to scientists. The scientists further tested the ability of the fibers to maintain required strength with absorption of water. Apart from varying polymeric structures, the different suture threads showed different structural characteristics are the macro level. Electron micrographs showed different surfaces for threads produced in different chitosan concentrations and different acids.

This investigation brings new development in polymer science and medicine by providing several different ways of processing natural polymers. Some natural polymers are very complex and can hardly be reproduced through artificial processes. Substances such as chitin have to be extracted from nature and processed. The particular interest of polymer science in chitosan and similar substances derived from natural polymers is their biocompatibility. Tolerance of sutured tissue to chitosan shows that at the fundamental level, varieties of life are similar and extremely compatible.

. Even though synthetic materials are used to produce the most common thread for sutures, chitosan enables production of less allergic threads. For example, chitosan will hardly adhere to tissue as it heals and eventually, chitosan is broken down by the body. The new suture thread material brings other medical properties of chitosan into suturing technology. Even though authors have not made an economic comparison of chitosan and other synthetic fibers, their discoveries, experimentation, and documentation are good news for polymer science and the medical world.