Wound healing with fish?

This is a really interesting idea. If it proves to be very effective there could be a great market for it and endless supply as it is very easy to farm Tilapia. The question is would it be financially viable to process all the skin on a large scale and would the meat still be available for sale to the food industry as well?

Technology has advance to such an extent as is, it is hard to believe the rate of new discoveries. Though this is still an ongoing experiment, if this happens to be a viable alternative it could vastly improve the current shelf products available for would healing. Biostep, a product of Smith and Nephew, is also a collagen dressing, it maintains an optimal moist wound environment while focusing on the patients comfort. Provided this proves to be a success, incorporating Tilapia proteins in these products would add the benefit of reduced wound healing time. Introducing an additional use for Tilapia wont necessarily affect the supply in food as Tilapia is simple to farm. However, if demand increases drastically due to this discovery the Tilapia species may be threatened as the previous comment suggests.

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I have done some further research and the tests done so far have definitely shown a dominant pattern of success. Reduced wound healing time would be an important development in Health Care because Allied Health Care processes such as Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy can only commence once wounds are healed. Therefore, if the wounds heal faster, therapy can begin sooner and the patient can get back to their normal life in a shorter time. I do think this is a clever alternative; however I also agree that this will one day put strain on the tilapia populations. This problem can be overcome if we manage our sources right from the beginning and are not foolishly reassured by the fact that the fish can “be farmed easily”.

This is a revolutionary approach to cosmetic recovery. specific measures should be put in place to monitor the fish stocks

Fish farms should sign contracts with the medical company's to ensure the sustainability of the treatment and fish stocks.

As scientists their should be more studies done to mutate the collagen till the point is reached where healing time is so drastically shortened that there are better healing towards larger wounds. This would be a vital asset in military exploits.
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According to a study by the Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the tilapia collagen is safe for clinical application. It was tested for bacteria, virusses, cell toxicity and other potentially harmful factors, but all results were negative. Clearly it has excellent potential and obstacles concerning the future of tilapia populations can surely be overcome.

I think that this would impact Tilapia numbers, anything that requires fish to be removed from their natural habitat would.

This research seems to yield very promising results and is a highly innovative technique is wound healing. Decreasing the wound healing time could mean patients spending less time in hospital and thus more space being made available faster, in order for new patients to come in and be treated.

The only downfall is that the Tilapia fish numbers could take a seriously plunge if this technique in wound healing had to take off. It could soon be demanded all over the world, thus putting huge strain on the Tilapia population. I think that more research needs to be done into how they could replicate the collagen fibers in order to reduce the strain on the Tilapia populations.

There are a lot of proffesions that are being neclected as due to the workers being incapable of performing those proffesions because of injuries. If the healing time of all wounds could be reduced the injured parties can go back to work quicker, and therefore the industrie's growth can be increased making it and the economy grow. The quantity of the injured parties being healed will also increased as due to the fact that healing time is less.

Is fish farming a viable option? At least temporarily?

Another very inventive approach to helping the human body heal. A decrease in wound healing time has multiple benefits in the field of medicine. This decrease in healing time will allow patients to return to their daily routine sooner. Promising for military field, burn patients and patients who underwent surgery.

It is, however, important that we take into consideration the Tilapia population. Would it be possible for scientists to develop a way to duplicate the fibres in order to preserve the species?

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this is so amazing but I think this should not be taken as only method of healing rats. As it could also reduce the number of tilipias. Remember the tilipias are already being used as food. Using them again as 'medicine' will only double the rate of harvesting them. Results also show that the harvesting of tilipias is increasing yearly.

Would it be profitable to farm with Tilapia? Would it have a negative impact on Tilapia population in their natural habitat?

How long would it take until people can start using it?

Technology is amazing.

Would it be profitable to farm with Tilapia? Would it have a negative impact on Tilapia population in their natural habitat?
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How profitable would fish farming be? And how would the discovery affect the Tilapia fish population in it's natural habitat?

How profitable would fish farming be? And how would the discovery affect the Tilapia fish population in it’s natural habitat?
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I've always know Tilapia as being a fish served with some chips and tartar sauce so reading this blog has been extremely interesting. I read into the topic a bit more and I see that the study of finding methods that accelerate healing have been going on for a while. I'm just curious as to how much skin of the Tilapia fish is needed or rather used to generate enough collagen to treat wounds?

This is fascinating and potentially a medical break through. However, how much is healing time reduced? Are there any side effects? What impact could this have in the fish population.
it certainly sounds like a medical solution but is this a viable form of treatment for humans?

I know Tilapia as being a fish served with chips and tartar sauce so reading this blog has been extremely interesting. I read into the topic a bit more and i see that the study of finding methods that accelerate healing have been going on for a while. I'm just curious as to how much skin of the Tilapia fish is needed or rather used to generate enough collagen to treat wounds?

With a potential break through such as this many questions are raised. According to the article the time for wounds to heal was shortened, but by how much and if one assumes the healing time is shortened by a significant amount is this a viable medical solution. will there be an impact on the fish or can we fish farm this breed and if we do will this have an effect on how efficiently they reduce wound heeling time?
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I think that its very interesting and has great potential. If they can combine the information they found with nanotechnology they can make an synthetic material with the exact same properties. This way there is no need to farm with tilapia and puts no strain on their population.
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I did my matric life sciences research task on Tilapia (specifically the Milawian strains, although there are over 100 strains being actively used in the aquaponic and fishing industries worldwide) which allowed me to do a lot of research and experiments with the fish (within ethical boundaries). Tilapia can be grown to adulthood in a relatively shorter time compared to other fish types and can survive in very extreme envirnments. These qualities allow the Tilapia to be a good choice for medical research because if they prove to be an asset (which this article proves they are) then they can be farmed efficiently, allowing more research to be done until a final product is achieved, and even after that (which is ethically allowable if the fish are not harmed in the harvesting of the collagen nanofibers).

Makes one think – the next time when I go fishing, the “Tilapia” I catch can be used for medicinal purpose – great research. Fish farming a definite must !
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This is a very interesting discovery indeed. Rapid wound healing is desirable for sure. However should the Tilapia be dead when extracting the collagen? Or can it be extracted when its still alive? Besides should the fish grow to adult size for the extraction to be done?

The skin of a Tilapia fish reduces wound healing in time of mice, but will it be as effective in humans?
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it is very interesting.
I would appreciate it if more posts can be done on this subject due to the lack of studies in proteins that heals wounds.
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what an amazing discovery to the world of medicine.

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wow! who knew that fish can heal wounds
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This is remarkable, with this information many things can be achieved in the near future and could have a positive affect on the environment.

This is some super interesting information.

wow! the healing power of nature
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I think that to start farming with Tilapia fish would be remarkable if only if it will be effected as suggested by Melissa Pistorius. This research can have an enormous effect on the medicine practice and wound healing, there may possibly be other useful uses of the Tilapia. The Tilipia fish used for wound healing is very interesting and makes one question the sufficient opportunities that the universe gives us.

This is a very interesting blog. Who knew fish has the potential to do so much. This medical research could be the answer to reducing death rate in areas such as war zones. Healing of wounds at a faster rate will save a lot of lives in crisis areas.
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Wound healing is very desirable indeed. However the fish should be dead in order to extract the collagen?

this is very interesting.

Massive applications in regenerative medicine. Burn victims were the first to pop into my mind. Being able to heal burned skin to a great extent would almost diminish the need for skin grafting. The time, energy and, most importantly, trauma, would be avoided or minimized. Injuries to other parts of the body, both internal and external, could also benefit from this. Sports-related injuries that would have otherwise ended a player's career could also be targeted.

Co-Existence is astonishing ! there are even zebra fish who have recently been identified as having almost shared 70% of the human genome! We are discovering the functions of many unknown genes in the human genome along with compounds that might help cure heart disease. One of the many reasons why we need to conserve and preserve all species

Wow amazing stuff ! i agree preservation is key ! cant discover such things from fossils

There is so much research that this can be applied to ! very exciting

The regenerative medicine application are endless. When you consider burn victims, healing their own skin would be much more beneficial than getting a skin grafting surgery. Healing would be very swift. Functionality could also improve. Sports medicine could also benefit greatly from this. If modified, this treatment could heal injuries of the knee and tendons; Injuries that are likely to create injuries that at the best cause the athlete to miss several months of the season and at worst end their career. These are but a few examples to the many possibilities of the potential breakthrough.

This is a very helpful breakthrough of coarse but immediately the problem of overfishing arises. If this is truely a way of speeding the healing process, I think the first thing to do is to establish farms for these fish to avoid our only lead on speeding healing to die out before the world gets to use this amazing technology.
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