New electrical stitches use muscle movement to speed up healing

Stitches are getting a shocking upgrade.

In an experiment in rats, a new strong, flexible thread hastened wound healing by transforming muscle movement into electricity, researchers report October 8 in Nature Communications.

If the material is eventually deemed safe for use in people, it “could change how 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 bulky external batteries. The new sutures are powered by the body itself (SN: 3/2/23).

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