Mucus layer on shark skin possesses properties that could be beneficial in medical applications, particularly in wound care
Lemon shark getting a facial
Sharks are known for their remarkable ability to heal quickly from wounds. The mucus layer on their skin plays a crucial role in this process. Recent research has uncovered that the mucus layer on shark skin possesses properties that could be beneficial in medical applications, particularly in wound care.
Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, conducting their investigation at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, found that the mucus layer on shark skin is chemically different from that of bony fish. This layer is less acidic (almost neutral), and shares more similarities with some mammalian mucus, including human mucus.
Wound care
The study's findings indicate that this layer could be instrumental in developing new wound care treatments, drawing parallels with products already derived from codfish. Understanding the biochemical properties of shark skin at a deeper level could lead to significant breakthroughs in how we approach healing and tissue regeneration in humans.
Previous studies have led to several significant discoveries with potential applications in human medicine, such as the identification of the antibiotic squalamine in the liver and stomach of spiny dogfish sharks and research on chloride channels in the rectal gland of these sharks, which are relevant to cystic fibrosis.
