A material most people associate with clothing and blankets could one day play an important role in treating bone injuries.
According to research from King's College London, reported by ScienceDaily, sheep's wool may hold the key to a more sustainable way of repairing damaged bone.
Researchers have been investigating keratin, a natural protein found in wool, and discovered it can support the growth of new bone tissue that more closely resembles healthy bone than some of today's commonly used materials.
From wool to medicine
The research team extracted keratin from sheep's wool and transformed it into thin membranes designed to support bone healing. The material was first tested on human bone cells in the laboratory, where it showed promising signs of encouraging healthy bone development.
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The scientists then moved to animal studies, implanting the membranes into rats with skull defects that would not normally heal on their own. The goal was to determine whether the wool-based material could guide new bone formation in a living biological system.
Compared with collagen, which has long been considered the standard material for bone regeneration, keratin produced some unexpected results.
Better than expected
While collagen generated a greater volume of new bone, the tissue formed with keratin was more organised and structurally closer to healthy bone.
Researchers also found that the wool-derived material remained stable throughout the healing process and integrated well with the surrounding tissue.
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The study highlights several potential advantages:
- Produces a more natural bone structure.
- Remains stable during healing.
- Makes use of a renewable material that is often discarded as agricultural waste.
A sustainable future
If future studies in humans confirm these findings, sheep's wool could become a valuable resource for regenerative medicine.
Every year, large amounts of wool are treated as a low-value byproduct, meaning the discovery could benefit both healthcare and sustainability.
The researchers stress that the technology is still in its early stages, as the current findings are based on animal studies.
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However, they believe the results represent an important step towards developing new biomaterials that could one day improve bone repair in patients.
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This article is made and published by Mie Hermansen, who may have used AI in the preparation.