A team of scientists from University of Bolton has come up with a fast-healing dressing that contains crab shells.
What if your bandage could heal wounds faster? A team of scientists has come up with a fast-healing dressing that contains crab shells. The University of Bolton team, which spent 10 years developing the hi-tech alchite dressing, believes that it could become a product worth 250 million pounds a year. The key ingredient is chitosan, a mineral found in crustacean shells, which kills bacteria and speeds up healing. The dressing is set to be made in China but initially sold in the UK.
‘A fast-healing dressing that contains crab shells has been developed by researchers. The key ingredient in the bandage is chitosan, a mineral found in crustacean shells, which kills bacteria and speeds up healing.’
Researcher Mohsen Miraftab said, "Alchite is a composite fiber, combining alginate, which is drawn from algae, and chitosan, found in crustacean shells. Alginate and chitosan both have a history of being used in medicine. Chitosan is naturally antimicrobial and accelerates wound healing activity, so it does heal and kill bacteria."Source-ANI