Genipin crosslinked microspheres as an effective hemostatic agent

Efficient hemorrhage control is of extreme importance to decrease mortality rates arising from traumatic bleeding. However, traditional hemostatic agents are limited to unsatisfied biocompatibility, inconvenient usage, and high cost. To this end, we have devised a novel hemostatic microsphere from chitosan and gelatin by using appropriate amount of genipin as a crosslinker. The performance of these Cs/Gel MPs was evaluated with experiments in vitro and in vivo. Results in vitro showed that the best hemostatic efficacy was achieved by Cs/Gel-0.75 MPs (the mass fraction of genipin in Cs/Gel mixture is 8.6 × 10 −6 ). Skin laceration model indicated that the hemostatic time of Cs/Gel-0.75 MPs was within 12 seconds, which has been significantly shortened in comparison with commercial available products. Moreover, cytocompatibility results displayed that Cs/Gel-0.75 MPs caused no obvious cytotoxicity even at the high concentration of 40 μg/ml. Cs/Gel-0.75 MPs also possess satisfactory fluid absorption ratio and low hemolysis. Therefore, these Cs/Gel-0.75 MPs are promising candidates for further surgical wound hemostatic agent.