Finnish solution for treating wounds is berry good

Designed to treat wounds and eliminate potentially fatal pathogens before surgery, the spray is produced by impregnating the pores and surface of nanocellulose with a berry extract to prevent the antimicrobial compounds from becoming trapped in the network of fibres, revealed Panu Lahtinen, senior scientist at VTT.

The spray can also be applied as cream, trans-dermal patch or wound dressing. The berry extract has applications also beyond wound care, including as a replacement for synthetic preservatives in cosmetics.

The next step to find companies that are interested in developing, producing and commercialising products utilising the extract, possibly as soon as in a couple of years.

Decades of berry research

The Finnish research centre has investigated the health benefits and antimicrobial properties of berries for 20 years, finding that the compounds can also help to prevent the growth of dangerous microbes on human skin, with even a tiny amount of berry extract capable of killing pathogenic bacteria such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

“Our research has identified antimicrobial compounds in several wild berries, including sea buckthorn, bilberry, strawberry, cloudberry, lingonberry and raspberry,” said Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey, associate professor and senior adviser at VTT.

The seeds of berries are coated with antimicrobial compounds to protect the seed from microbes, such as moulds, before germination.

VTT has developed a production method capable of producing extracts enriched with such compounds from berry press cakes, a by-product of berry juice production that contains the berry skin and seeds. It has also developed technologies to produce the key molecules in cultivated plant cells using plant biotechnology, enabling year-round production independent of berry harvests.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified antibiotic-resistant bacteria as one of the 10 foremost health challenges globally. MRSA, for example, has been associated with a growing number of difficult-to-treat wound infections, which carry the risk of death particularly during surgery.

In Finland, an estimated 20 per cent of the population unknowingly carry these bacteria.