Novel Soy Protein-Based Wound Dressing Loaded with Hemostatic Agent and Antibiotics

Background: Bioresorbable structures can be used as drug eluting platforms in various biomedical applications. Soy protein is a new natural material in the medical field with very promising properties. It has been used in our lab as a basic material for wound dressings, designed for pre-hospital treatment, mainly of burn injuries. Our dressing design consists two layers: a porous layer in contact with the skin, which allows better water permeability and accommodates newly developed tissue, and a top, dense layer, preventing pathogen penetration. In the current study the porous layer was loaded with the hemostatic agent tranexamic acid for bleeding control, and the dense layer was loaded with an antibiotic drug for infection prevention.

Methods: The bi-layer dressing was immersed in water and kept at physiological temperature and moisture. The tranexamic acid release profile was determined using a spectrophotometer, and the antibiotic release profile was determined using HPLC.

Results: Most hemostatic agent release was obtained within the first two hours of the experiment and the antibiotic release was more gradual.

Conclusions: When treating trauma casualties, it is crucial to stop the bleeding as fast as possible and also combat infections. Hence, the release profiles of the hemostatic agent and antibiotics from our soy-based wound dressings are optimal, resulting in a unique novel platform for trauma casualties.