In this page, the focus is on the medical and the clinical uses of alginate. The medical and clinical uses of alginate include lowering cholesterol levels, reducing heavy chemicals and cholesterol your body has taken up. In order for alginate to help lower your body’s cholesterol levels, it forms a gel which reduces the cholesterol that enters your body. Similarly, the use of alginate fibers that are processed inside of non-woven fabric can be used as wound dressings. Alginates can also be used to immobilize cells or enzymes by means of entrapping them in a material which allows for substance penetration to be converted or modified. These are some of the most common uses of alginates in medical and clinical field. There are still many uses to alginate in terms of medical and clinical areas and those include the following:
Medical & Clinical Uses of Alginate
Wound & Burn Care
Alginates being used in wound dressings can be dated back 30 years but the use of seaweeds in treating wounds is already prevalent back in ancient times. It’s been used many years before by sailors to treat abscesses of abdominal walls, and to stop blood loss. However, use of alginates in the ancient times is difficult to verify.
Still, as early as 18th century, it’s already been used as haemostatic agents and in wound healing particularly in surgical wounds. This all lead to the widespread use of alginate dressings all over UK and USA hospitals. They are popularly used because they contain calcium and sodium fibers from seaweeds.
These wound dressings are very easy to use, can be molded to the wound’s shape allowing for proper wound drainage. Moreover, alginate dressings can absorb about 20 times more than its weight and ideal for open ulcers, venous ulcers, pressure ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers. One benefit of using alginate dressings is the fact that it’s dry when placed in the wound, then it becomes larger and gel-like while fluids re drawn.
Because of that, the wound can be cleared properly without becoming dry. It protects the wound from harmful bacteria, promotes growth of new skin, promotes a healthier environment for the wound and stabilizes blow flow in bleeding wounds. With all these amazing benefits, it makes alginates essential in the medical and clinical field.
Alginate dressings can also help wounds that are bleeding. The calcium in these dressings helps stabilize blood flow, which slows bleeding.
Alginate for Wound Dressings
Alginate Seaweed Fertilizer
Some of the more common medical and clinical uses of alginates in wound care, control of blood pressure and cholesterol, radiation exposure and as a biological substrate for tissue growth.
Reflux and Antacid Aide
Parkinson Disease and Alginate
Treatment of Hypertension
There are two kinds of alginate oligosaccharides that were found to have positive effects on blood pressure. The two types, Na-AO and K-AO, have been tested in hypertensive rats. The investigation’s aim is to find out the effects of oligosaccharides on the blood pressure under controlled circumstances. In a study, it has been found that alginate oligosaccharides are capable of increasing the systolic blood pressure of the hypertensive rats. With those results, it has been found that alginate has significant effect on lowering hypertension which ideally can be applied to humans.
Normalizing Chloresterol
In the management and prevention of obesity, dietary fibers have been a very particular interest. One of the proposed mechanisms is to modulate the small intestine’s nutrient uptake. The uptake of cholesterol, triacylglycerols and glucose is known to increase body fat. But, it was also discovered that a dose of 1.5g of alginate can restore the cholesterol and glucose uptake of the body to a healthy level. Thus, it opens for the possibility of using alginate gelling fibers in therapeutic purposes.
Treatment in Radiation Exposure
Sodium alginate is found capable of reducing the amount of strontium-90 the bone tissue absorbed at about 50 to 83%. With the problem that strontium-90 is known to cause such as bone cancer, decreased red and white cells production, leukemia, anemia and Hodgkin’s disease, the capability of sodium alginate of reducing its effects proves to be beneficial.
Biological Substrate
Medical alginates can also be used as biological substrate. They can be used for research such that of immobilizing cells or enzymes so as to allow for the substance to be converted to penetrate the material. It is ideally used for regenerative medicine applications being one of the most abundant biosynthesized materials.
These are essentially some of the most common uses for alginate in the field of medicine and clinical studies. Having amazing properties, it is a valuable material that can be utilized not only in medicine but also in other fields. There are plenty of uses for alginate and you will find they are all interesting to know and learn.
