Hemorrhage is the major hindrance over the wound healing, which triggers microbial infections and might provoke traumatic death. Herein, new hemostatic and antibacterial PVA/Kaolin composite sponges were crosslinked using a freeze-thawing approach and boosted by penicillin–streptomycin (Pen-Strep). Physicochemical characteristics of developed membranes were analyzed adopting Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Furthermore, the impacts of kaolin concentrations on porosity, swelling behavior, gel fraction, and degradation of the membranes were investigated. SEM analyses revealed a spongy-like structure of hydrogels associated with high dispersion of kaolin inside PVA matrix. The thermal characteristics of PVA/Kaolin were significantly ameliorated compared to the prime PVA. Moreover, the results exhibited significant variations of swelling performance, surface roughness and pore capacity due to the alterations of kaolin contents. Besides, the adhesive strength ability was manifestly enhanced for PVA-K0.1 sponge. Biomedical evaluations including antibacterial activity, blood clotting index and thrombogenicity of the membranes were studied. The contact of PVA/Kaolin to blood revealed notable augmentation in blood clotting. Furthermore, the incorporation of kaolin into PVA presented mild diminution in antibacterial activities. Moreover, PVA/Kaolin composites illustrated no cellular toxicity towards fibroblast cells. These remarkable features substantiate that the PVA-K0.1 sponge could be applied as a multifunctional wound dressing.To get more news about quick clot combat gauze, you can visit rusuntacmed.com official website.
The leading challenge of injuries treatment is the excessive hemorrhage, which might result in approximately 40% of death, particularly in injuries caused either on the combat zone or accidents1. Extreme bleeding could trigger serious and uncontrollable complications; for instance, hypovolemic shock, microbial infections, traumatic death2. Hence, prompt management of such bleeding necessitates effective treatments utilizing biocompatible and hemostatic materials. Previous studies put forward that systemic hemostatic and injectable compounds including fibrin, thrombin and growth factors have been implemented to tackle the blood flow in severe patients3; however, dangerous consequences have been explored, such as internal clotting and pulmonary embolism4. For these reasons, topical clotting materials possess intrinsic hemostatic properties, including as collagen5, zeolite6 and chitosan7 have been drawing great interest.

Blood coagulation mechanism accomplishes in three progressive stages: (1) initiation that includes thrombin development, (2) amplification, in which aggregation and activation of platelets could be perceived, (3) proliferation, which is identified by fibrin construction and steadiness of the platelet clot. The effect of used hemostatic materials commonly implements during the amplification and proliferation stages through constructing a network on the wound site, which promotes the accumulation and clotting of platelets8.

Several requisites should be valid in a hemostatic material, involving feasibility to apply, economical, hemocompatible and cytocompatible, and inherently biodegradable9. Accordingly, Kaolin has been recognized as being one of the localized potent hemostatic agents that could effectively stimulate the blood clotting process10.

Kaolin or china clay is mainly consisting of mineral kaolinite and aluminium silicate11. Margolis12 found out for the first time the capability of kaolin in blood clotting stimulation. So far, kaolin has been efficiently applied as an active agent for surgical hemostasis since negative charges on the kaolin surface can significantly affect the blood clotting10. Within wounds in vivo, once the kaolin placed in direct contact to the blood, it spontaneously prompts the factor XII and platelets to commence the blood coagulation pathway13. Moreover, it could be utilized as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory agent during wounds treatment in order to impede the formation of edema.