Porcupine quills inspire design of new medical technologies

In a new study, the researchers characterised, for the first time, the forces needed for quills to enter and exit the skin. They are also said to have created artificial devices with the same mechanical features as the quills, raising the possibility of designing less-painful needles or adhesives that can bind internal tissues more securely.

The researchers say there is a great need for such adhesives, especially for patients who have undergone gastric-bypass surgery or other types of gastric or intestinal surgery. These surgical incisions are currently sealed with sutures or staples, which can leak and cause complications.

‘With further research, biomaterials modelled based on porcupine quills could provide a new class of adhesive materials,’ said Robert Langer, David H Koch Institute professor at MIT and a senior author of the study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Aside from stitches and sutures, doctors sometimes use medical-grade superglue to bind tissue together, said Jeffrey Karp, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a senior author of the paper. However, those glues can be toxic or provoke an inflammatory response.