Scientists have developed a bone-repair material from sheep’s wool that helped damaged bone regenerate in animals, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports, citing ScienceDaily. Researchers at King’s College London focused on keratin, a natural protein found in wool.
They created membranes from wool-derived keratin and tested them first with human bone cells in the laboratory. The cells grew well on the material and showed signs of healthy bone formation. The researchers then implanted the membranes into rats with skull defects that were too large to heal on their own.
The material supported new bone growth across the damaged areas and remained stable during the healing process. The results also showed differences between the wool-based material and collagen, which is widely used in bone repair. While collagen produced a greater amount of bone, the bone formed with keratin was more organized and structurally stronger.
Its fibers were also better aligned, making the new tissue more similar to healthy bone. “From a research perspective this is a major milestone. It positions keratin as a potential new class of regenerative biomaterial that could challenge the long-standing reliance on collagen,” says Dr Sherif Elsharkawy at King’s Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences.
According to the researchers, these properties could make keratin useful in situations where existing materials are too weak or break down too quickly. Collagen can also be difficult and expensive to extract. Wool, by contrast, is naturally available and is often discarded as agricultural waste.
The researchers said the findings move the technology closer to potential use in patients, although further testing will be needed before it can be considered for medical treatment. Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Kazakh scientists developed a technology for producing marbled lamb.