Tissue Transglutaminase as a Biological Tissue Glue

Abstract

Surgeons have long sought an efficient biological method of wound repair that requires little time and minimizes discomfort for their patients, yet produces a good cosmetic outcome. Our aim is to develop a biological tissue glue based on the extracellular matrix stabilizing enzyme transglutaminase 2 to covalently bond tissue layers to promote suture-less closure of surgical wounds. We used human skin tissue as a model to test our hypothesis. Human skin samples were studied for endogenous transglutaminase activity and probed for target structures for commercial enzyme using standardized histochemistry. Tissue bonding between two skin sections was monitored under phase contrast microscopy.