New shape-shifting polymer hailed as medical breakthrough

Imagine a cardiovascular stent that is one shape when it's inserted surgically, and then another when it expands inside a blood vessel, reacting to a patient's body heat. This type of innovative treatment may be closer to reality than we thought, thanks to pioneering research at Syracuse and Bucknell universities. Surgical and wound healing breakthroughs may be on the horizon thanks to a new polymer material. The material is a new kind of shape memory polymer that could have a major impact on health care. Syracuse University STEM News describes SMPs as "soft, rubbery, smart materials that can change shape in response to external stimuli like temperature changes or exposure to light. They can hold each shape indefinitely and turn back when triggered to do so." The specific variety of SMP developed by Syracuse and Bucknell researchers is a polymer that is compatible with living cells and changes shape when responding to enzyme exposure. It doesn't need any additional trigger or outside stimulus to function. With properties like these, the researchers believe it can respond directly to certain cell behaviors like the healing of wounds. The SMP research team's study, "Enzymatically triggered shape memory polymers," was first published in Acta Biomaterialia in January. Wound care role The type of wound treatment that this SMP makes possible sounds a little bit like something out of science fiction. ...
Source: Advanced Tissue - Category: Dermatology Authors: Tags: Wound Care Wound healing Source Type: news