New electric stitches use muscle movement to speed healing

Stitching is getting a shocking upgrade.

In an experiment with mice, a new tough, flexible thread accelerated wound healing by converting muscle movement into electrical energy, researchers report Oct. 8. Nature Communications.

If the material is eventually deemed safe for use in humans, it “could change the way we treat injuries,” says materials scientist Chengyi Hou of Donghua University in Shanghai.

Researchers already knew that pumping electricity through stitches could speed healing, but previous technologies relied on large external batteries. New stitches are made possible by the body itself (SN: 3/2/23).

The thread is made of biodegradable polymers and magnesium, a metal that can be absorbed by the body over time. When the muscles around the stitches contract and relax, the middle layer of the thread rubs against the outer layer, transferring electrons to the shell and generating electricity.

Hou and colleagues applied electrical thread stimulation to artificial wounds in laboratory dishes. After 24 hours, fibroblasts – cells that are essential for healing – reduced the wound area from 69 percent to 11 percent. In comparison, untreated artificial wounds decreased in size from 69 percent to 33 percent after 24 hours.

In an experiment with mice, rodents treated with electric sutures recovered faster and were less likely to develop an infection than mice treated with traditional sutures and untreated mice.

Hou’s team plans to test the stitches in larger animals.