Development of Nano-fibrous Polyelectrolyte Complex (PEC) powder for haemorrhage control

Abstract

In this work, two different combinations of polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) based Nano-fibrous powder samples were prepared for haemorrhage control. One combination involves sodium alginate and chitosan, and the other involves casein and chitosan. After the fabrication process, to evaluate the physical properties, blood clotting ability and biological properties, several analysis and tests like FESEM, BET, Whole blood clotting assay, compressive strength measurement etc. were done. Study revealed that sodium alginate-chitosan (AL-CH) nano-powder had an average fibre diameter of 50-80 nm and surface area of about 250-400 m²/g. The nano-powder also had shown a blood clotting time of below 30 seconds. The other combination of Nano-powder composed of casein-chitosan(CA-CH) exhibited lower fibre diameter with an average fibre diameter of about 50 nm. CA-CH nano-powder also had shown better clotting efficiency with an average clotting time of 15 seconds.