Investigadores de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia en Bogotá han desarrollado unas tiritas biodegradables para las heridas que aceleran el proceso de la cicatrización y reducen el dolor que sufren los afectados. Además, están preparadas para que poco a poco se vayan deteriorando sin que el paciente tenga necesidad de quitárselas.

Natural polymer Chitin shows great healing properties
Chitin is a polymer very common in nature as part of animals’ and plants’ physical structures.

Only cellulose is more abundant than chitin, which makes this compound a highly important renewable resource that can easily be found in arthropods, insects, arachnids, molluscs, fungus and algae.

The fishing industry in Cuba generates great amounts of lobster waste, “a pollutant rich in proteins and chitin”, states Professor Carlos Andrés Peniche Covas, head of the Biopolymers Research Group, from the Biomaterials Centre of the University of Havana. This group is doing research into chitin and chitosan extraction from such waste, in collaboration with the Spanish Centre for Scientific Research (CSIC), the Complutense University in Madrid (Spain) and the Mexican Research Centre for Food and Development.