<title>Laser-activated protein bands for peripheral nerve repair</title>

Repair strength dependence on solder protein concentration: A study in laser tissue-welding

“…This result is in agreement with the better performances in tissue welding of dense fluid glues (45-50% BSA concentration) than low concentration fluid glues [4,10,12,13,15,16]. The tensile strength of the laser repair was not related precisely to the solder protein concentration in pre- vious studies, because the surgeon was unable to control the required surface area and thickness of the fluid glue on the tissue.…”

“…The band surface area was calculated with the formula S ‫ס‬ P b ⅐ (hd) −1 , where P b is the weight of the band, h its thickness, and d the band density. The protein solder had an absorption peak at 805 nm, corresponding to ∼7.5 m absorption length [13]. For storage, the protein bands were positioned between thin metallic foils to preserve their flat shape and to shield them from light and then were stored in the refrigerator at 5°C.…”

“…The nature of this protein bond is currently in dispute; indeed some researchers believe that the bond is due to protein crosslinking and others support the noncovalent nature of the bond [6,7]. The role of the protein concentration in increasing the weld tensile strength has been investigated previously, but the use of fluid glues in laser tissue repair prevented a quantitative analysis [8,9]. Indeed, fluid glues are applied on the tissue without a constant thickness and surface area, which influence the heat penetration through the solder and the tensile strength of the solder weld.…”

Impact of solubility on laser tissue-welding with albumin solid solders

“…The weld strengths of these two forms of solders are difficult to compare, as the thickness and surface area of the fluid solder cannot be controlled with accuracy. Some studies attempted the comparison of the two solders but the unquoted error of the weld strength (a result of the solder surface area and thickness) made the data analysis incomplete [10,11]. In this study, the correlation between the solubility of the solid solder and its weld strength was investigated.…”

Surgical adhesives for laser-assisted wound closure

“…The combination of serum albumin and indocyanine green dye ͑ICG͒ has shown promising results. 3,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The albumin solder is denatured at the repair site during laser welding to enhance the adhesion of the adjacent tissue edges. The resulting denatured solder is nonimmunogenic 14 and is gradually absorbed in the normal wound healing process.…”