Scientists have created a new type of glue which mimics the natural adhesive made by barnacles to help serious wounds heal quickly.

A team of researchers at MIT hope their new substance will allow surgeons and medics to better prevent blood loss in patients with bleeding organs, and potentially in trauma victims. 

Stitches and sutures are effective at stopping bleeding, but they are time-consuming to properly administer, and the procedure is rarely possible in a time-sensitive crisis, such as in the aftermath of a car crash or a stabbing.

As a result, scientists have been working to find ways to stop blood loss by other means to buy a patient enough time to get to a hospital.

Current methods use man-made materials to increase the rate of coagulation, or clotting, to prevent excessive blood loss, which can be fatal in a matter of minutes.

However, in early tests, the barnacle method was much more effective and stopped bleeding in as little as 15 seconds.

How they stick

Barnacles are the most unassuming of sea creatures, found on the hulls of ships and the skin of whales, but their clinging ability is remarkable.

The secret to their stickability is a unique two-step process. First, they secrete an oily substance that cleans the surface it is attached to and dries it out by repelling water. Secondly, it produces a protein which physically connects the barnacle to the surface it is on, forming a durable bond.

“This caught our eye,” Hyunwoo Yuk, lead author of the study, told MIT News. “It’s very interesting because to seal bleeding tissues, you have to fight with not only wetness but also the contamination from this outcoming blood.

“We found that this creature living in a marine environment is doing exactly the same thing that we have to do to deal with complicated bleeding issues.”

Tested on pig livers

In a study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the researchers explain they created their own version of the barnacle glue and tested it on deliberately injured pig livers.

It works in much the same way as the barnacle does, by cleaning the site and then applying a strong glue to repair cuts, but the glue uses adhesive microparticles instead of a protein.

Dr Christoph Nabzdyk, a cardiac anesthesiologist and critical care physician, Mayo Clinic, said it was successful at rapidly stopping bleeding.

“The resulting tissue seal can withstand even high arterial pressures,” he added.

“We think the paste may be useful in stemming severe bleeding, including in internal organs, and in patients with clotting disorders or on blood thinners. This might become useful for the care of military and civilian trauma victims.”

Tests revealed the seal stayed intact for several weeks, giving the organ ample time to heal on its own. They now hope to test the glue on bigger, open wounds.

“We are solving an adhesion problem in a challenging environment, which is this wet, dynamic environment of human tissues,” said Prof Xuanhe Zhao, a co-author of the study, and a professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering, MIT.

“At the same time, we are trying to translate this fundamental knowledge into real products that can save lives.”