Smart dressings with built-in healing sensors

摘要

Australian researchers have developed smart, electrospun wound dressings with built-in nanosensors that glow to alert patients and medical professionals when a wound is not healing properly. The multifunctional, antimicrobial dressings feature fluorescent sensors that glow brightly under ultraviolet (UV) light if infection starts to set in and can be used to monitor healing progress. The smart dressings developed by a team of RMIT University scientists and engineers harness the antibacterial and antifungal properties of magnesium hydroxide. They are said to be cheaper to produce than silver-based dressings, but equally as effective in fighting bacteria and fungi, with their antimicrobial properties lasting up to a week.