A multifunctional electronic suture for continuous strain monitoring and on-demand drug release
- Authors
- 이연택; 김화중; YeonJu Kim; 노승범; CHUNBEOMSOO; 김진호; CharnMin Park; 최민영; KIJUNPARK; 이재홍; JUNGMOK SEO
- Issue Date
- Oct-2021
- Publisher
- ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
- Keywords
- Drug delivery; Smart suture; Bioelectronics; Strain sensor
- Citation
- NANOSCALE, v.13, no.43, pp.18112 - 18124
- Journal Title
- NANOSCALE
- Volume
- 13
- Number
- 43
- Start Page
- 18112
- End Page
- 18124
- URI
- https://yscholarhub.yonsei.ac.kr/handle/2021.sw.yonsei/5253
- DOI
- 10.1039/d1nr04508c
- ISSN
- 2040-3364
- Abstract
- Surgical sutures are widely used for closing wounds in skin. However, the monitoring of wound integrity and promoting tissue regeneration at the same time still remains a challenge. To address this, we developed a drug-releasing electronic suture system (DRESS) to monitor the suture integrity in real-time and enhance tissue regeneration by triggered drug release. DRESS was fabricated by using a single fiber with a core?shell structure consisting of a stretchable conductive fiber core and a thermoresponsive polymer shell containing drugs. The highly conductive fiber core acts as a strain sensor that enables continuous monitoring of suture strain with high sensitivity (a gauge factor of ∼686) and mechanical durability (being able to endure more than 3000 stretching cycles). The thermoresponsive shell layer composed of flexible poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) grafted onto poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) facilitates on-demand drug release via Joule heating. The results of an in vitro scratch assay showed a 66% decrease in wound area upon heat-activation after 48 hours demonstrating the stimuli-responsive therapeutic efficacy of DRESS by promoting cell migration. Moreover, ex vivo testing on porcine skin demonstrated the applicability of DRESS as a electronic suture. The approach used for DRESS provides insight into multifunctional sutures and offers additional therapeutic and diagnostic options for clinical applications.
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- Appears in
Collections - College of Engineering > Electrical and Electronic Engineering > 1. Journal Articles

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