The effective control of a bleeding injury using a medical adhesive containing batroxobin

Abstract

Many types of hemostatic agents have been studied for the effective control of bleeding. In this study, a powdery medical adhesive composed of aldehyded dextran and ε-poly (L-lysine) was used with the recombinant batroxobin. Batroxobin is a venomous component from the snake Bothrops atrox moojeni and catalyzes fibrinogen conversion to form soluble fibrin clots. This research aims to examine the performance of the batroxobin-containing adhesive for hemostasis, and evaluate its potential as a novel hemostatic adhesive. The fibrinogen conversion ability of batroxobin was evaluated by a fibrinogen clotting assay and a whole blood clotting assay. Both experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of the batroxobin-containing adhesive for blood clot formation. Animal experiments were also conducted. After a pricking wound was made in an ICR (imprinting control region) mouse liver, the adhesive and various concentrations of batroxobin were applied. The total amount of blood loss was reduced with increasing concentrations of batroxobin. For excessive bleeding conditions, the femoral artery wound model of SD (Sprague-Dawley) rats was adopted. With higher concentrations of batroxobin, hemostasis was more rapidly achieved. Histological analysis of the liver model also supports the hemostatic effects through fibrin clot formation. In conclusion, batroxobin and medical adhesive effectively facilitate blood coagulation, and could be developed for clinical use.