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Hemorrhage or uncontrolled bleeding can arise either due to a medical condition or from a traumatic injury and are typically controlled with the application of a hemostatic agent. Hemostatic agents are currently derived from animal or human products, which carry risks of blood borne infections and immune dysregulation. Therefore, the need exists for novel biomedical therapies not derived from animal or human products to achieve hemostasis. Accordingly, we created an interdigitated microelectronic bandage that applies low voltage electrical stimulation to an injury site, resulting in faster clot formation without excessive heating, accelerated fibrin formation, and hemostasis overall. Our interdigitated microelectronic bandage found fibrin formed 1.5× faster in vitro. In vivo, total cessation of bleeding was 2.5× faster, resulting in 2× less blood loss. Electricity has been used in medical applications such as defibrillation, cauterization, and electrosurgery, but scant research has focused on hemostasis. Here we report a novel surface treatment using an interdigitated microelectronic device that creates rapid hemostasis in both in vitro and in vivo bleeding models with low applied voltages, representing a new and novel class of hemostatic agents that are electrically-based.

Sepsis is a common and life-threatening disorder with an alarmingly high mortality rate. Unfortunately, this rate has not decreased significantly over the last decade and the number of septic cases is increasing each year. Despite sepsis affecting millions of people annually, there is still not an established standard of care. The development of a therapy that targets the thromboinflammation characteristic of sepsis is imperative. Until recently, research has focused on uncovering individual pathways to target. As more of the pathophysiology of sepsis has become understood and more biomarkers uncovered, the interplay between endothelial cells, platelets, and leukocytes has emerged as a critical event. Therefore, a multi-targeted approach is clearly required for designing an effective treatment for sepsis. The versatility of biomaterials offers a promising solution in that they can be designed to target and affect multiple pathways and systems and safely inhibit excessive inflammation while maintaining hemostasis. Already, studies have demonstrated the ability of biomaterials to target different processes and stages in sepsis-induced inflammation and coagulopathy. Moreover, some biomaterials offer inherent anti-inflammatory and hemostatic qualities. This review aims to discuss the most recent advancements in biomaterial development designed to address inflammation, coagulopathy, and thromboinflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncontrolled bleeding is a major problem in trauma and emergency medicine. While materials for trauma applications would certainly find utility in traditional surgical settings, the unique environment of emergency medicine introduces additional design considerations, including the need for materials that are easily deployed in austere environments. Ideally, these materials would be available off the shelf, could be easily transported, and would be able to be stored at room temperature for some amount of time. Both natural and synthetic materials have been explored for the development of hemostatic materials. This review article provides an overview of classes of materials used for topical hemostats and newer developments in the area of injectable hemostats for use in emergency medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to create platelet-like structures for the augmentation of haemostasis have focused solely on recapitulating aspects of platelet adhesion; more complex platelet behaviours such as clot contraction are assumed to be inaccessible to synthetic systems. Here, we report the creation of fully synthetic platelet-like particles (PLPs) that augment clotting in vitro under physiological flow conditions and achieve wound-triggered haemostasis and decreased bleeding times in vivo in a traumatic injury model. PLPs were synthesized by combining highly deformable microgel particles with molecular-recognition motifs identified through directed evolution. In vitro and in silico analyses demonstrate that PLPs actively collapse fibrin networks, an emergent behaviour that mimics in vivo clot contraction. Mechanistically, clot collapse is intimately linked to the unique deformability and affinity of PLPs for fibrin fibres, as evidenced by dissipative particle dynamics simulations. Our findings should inform the future design of a broader class of dynamic, biosynthetic composite materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]