Keratin-Associated Protein Nanoparticles as Hemostatic Agents

Uncontrollable bleeding is considered one of the significant reasons for life threats caused by traumas. The development of safe materials with high hemostatic effectiveness remains a great challenge. In Chinese medicine, human hair products are applied to stop bleeding and to promote blood circulation. Hair-extracted keratin has also been shown for halting bleeding in research studies. However, keratin is a protein mixture, and the traditionally extracted keratins produced complex keratins and keratin-associated proteins (KAPs). Up to date, no studies have characterized the hemostatic functions of prepared KAPs nanoparticles (KAPNPs). Therefore, we specifically had KAPs fractions extracted from human hair and prepared KAPNPs as a hemostatic agent, with their characteristics investigated in this study. The KAPNPs showed spherical morphology and good biocompatibility with significantly reduced clotting time. While further studies are required to understand better the exact role of each hair protein fraction on the coagulation processes, the current research suggests that KAPNPs have great potential for future clinical hemostasis application.