Tissue photo-bonding using biopolymer crosslinked with rose bengal

Abstract

Visible light-activated photobonding of tissues presents an attractive alternative to surgical suturing for closing of dermal wounds. The advantages of photo-bonding include reduced inflammation and less scarring. However, the materials currently used for light-activated wound closure allow for only a limited, if any, ability to modulate the biological and mechanical properties of the resulting bonded tissue. Particularly, the micrometric void within dermal wounds presents another obstacle for the photo-bonding materials, since collagen structures are required for the photobonding to occur. Therefore, developing a light-activated biomaterial glue that can overcome these limitations would represent an important advance in translational potential. To this end, we have developed a new generation of photo-bonding materials based on vinyl-modified collagen and rose Bengal that are crosslinkable using visible light.