DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT OF A BIO-INSPIRED SURGICAL ADHESIVE

Our main focus is to develop a bio-inspired adhesive to be used within a surgical environment to facilitate accelerated healing. This would be beneficial for securing bone fragments, in conjunction with a plate or screw, or anchoring other tissues. Purpose (a): Our goal is to develop an adhesive for securing bone to bone, metal to bone, and tissue to bone. As the aging population increases, the number of fractures due to falls and loss of bone density will increase. The incidence of bone fractures in elderly women, ages 50-79, exceeds the combined incidents for all types of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. Although there are bone “fillers” (e.g., putties, cements and fillers), there are currently no true adhesives for bone. Drawbacks of current filler-type products complicating their use include the need to completely dry bone prior to application and high curing temperatures which can damage surrounding tissue. Methods (b): In light of naturally-occurring glues from aquatic mussels being able to harden underwater, we adapted the same type of chemistries for our approach. Specifically, we utilized catechol-like chemistries to strengthen protein-based adhesives. A bone surrogate model consisting of hydroxyapatite was employed to measure the tensile strength. Results (c): In previous proof of concept stages, we were able to secure bone to bone but were able to achieve only a small fraction of our target adhesive strength. Using new protein-based approaches we have improved our technology to obtain thousand-fold higher tensile strengths. Conclusions (d): We envision future applications of this adhesive medical device technology to include bone reconstruction, securing screws and metal plates to bone, and cartilage or ligaments to bone. Having a bone adhesive with sufficient strength to serve as a stabilizing force for immediate weight bearing would promote bone regrowth and accelerated healing.