Method for manufacturing antioxidant suture line by plasma pretreatment

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an antioxidant suture line by means of plasma pretreatment, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing an antioxidant suture line by means of plasma pretreatment, which comprises: hydrophilizing a medical suture line by means of plasma pretreatment; the medical suture is then impregnated and then stirred to form a physical and chemical bond between the medical suture and the antioxidant in order to coat the antioxidant.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment, and more specifically, to a method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment in which the hydrophilicity of the medical suture is increased by plasma pretreatment and then an antioxidant is coated, thereby solving the problem of suture breakage during the circulation of the suture and increasing the tensile strength of the suture, thus improving the problem of suture quality degradation during use. Background Technology

[0002] In general, medical sutures are used to close wounds or surgically removed skin.

[0003] In recent years, the demand for medical sutures has been gradually increasing as thread lifting, a minimally invasive cosmetic procedure aimed at lifting sagging skin and promoting collagen regeneration to improve skin elasticity, has also become more prevalent.

[0004] However, in the case of conventional medical sutures, oxidation occurs on the suture surface due to contact with oxygen in the air during distribution, which damages the suture and causes it to break during distribution.

[0005] In addition, the problem of sutures breaking during the distribution process can also cause sutures to break easily when used in minimally invasive cosmetic procedures or surgeries after distribution.

[0006] Regarding the issue of severance in medical sutures, please refer to... Figure 1 (a) and Figure 1 (b) will be explained in detail.

[0007] Figure 1 (a) is the surface of a medical suture in its normal state, freshly manufactured and not yet oxidized.

[0008] On the contrary, Figure 1 (b) shows the damage to the surface of medical sutures caused by oxidation through interaction with the outside as the shelf life increases due to various circulation processes.

[0009] In other words, with Figure 1 When comparing (a), Figure 1 (b) shows the unevenness caused by a partial defect on the surface.

[0010] This is because medical sutures are primarily composed of components that are biocompatible, or more specifically, biodegradable polymers or compounds with similar properties, which are often oxidized and decomposed upon contact with oxygen in the air.

[0011] The quality degradation problem due to oxidation of such medical sutures directly causes product reliability and manufacturing company profit problems, and thus there is an urgent need to find a method for solving the above problems.

[0012] Therefore, in order to solve the cutting problem of sutures, a technology of coating an antioxidant substance on the surface of a medical suture is being studied.

[0013] However, in the coating method in which the antioxidant substance is simply applied to the surface of the medical suture, in the case of a medical suture having a cog shape formed on the surface, a problem occurs in that the portion between the formed cog teeth is not coated or even if coated, is not uniformly coated.

[0014] In addition, various impurities are also attached to the surface of a flat medical suture without a cog shape, and thus there is a high possibility that the antioxidant substance cannot be well coated.

[0015] This can cause partial oxidation due to air contact with the portion that is not well coated, and also cause a phenomenon of quality degradation of the medical suture. SUMMARY

[0016] PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention has been developed to solve the above problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method of an antioxidant suture using plasma pretreatment, which increases the hydrophilicity of the surface of a medical suture by plasma pretreatment of the surface of the medical suture, uniformly coats an antioxidant substance on the surface, thereby preventing a phenomenon in which the medical suture is cut after being produced in a flow process, and thus increasing the tensile strength of the suture itself.

[0018] MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS

[0019] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a manufacturing method of an antioxidant suture using plasma pretreatment, characterized by comprising the steps of: a plasma pretreatment step of performing plasma treatment on the surface of a medical suture to remove impurities by collision between the surface of the suture and ionized gas, and to form a carboxyl or hydroxyl functional group on the surface of the suture to achieve hydrophilization; a dip coating step of dipping the suture subjected to the plasma pretreatment step into an antioxidant substance and stirring, thereby allowing a hydrogen atom present in a functional group of the antioxidant substance and an oxygen atom present in a functional group of the suture to form a hydrogen bond, and allowing an instantaneous dipole to be formed when the antioxidant substance approaches the surface of the suture to generate an attractive force, thereby forming a van der Waals bond; and a drying step of drying the suture subjected to the dip coating step.

[0020] In a preferred embodiment, the medical suture described above is an absorbable suture that is decomposed and absorbed in the body.

[0021] In a preferred embodiment, the medical suture described above is a polydioxanone suture.

[0022] In a preferred embodiment, the plasma described above is an oxygen plasma.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment, the process pressure for the process of pre-treating the plasma described above is 5.00e-3 torr, the process power is 10 W, the frequency is 50 kHz, and the process time is 5 minutes. -1 torr, the process power is 10 W, the frequency is 50 kHz, and the process time is 5 minutes.

[0024] In a preferred embodiment, the antioxidant described above is a polyethylene glycol solution or a polydopamine solution.

[0025] In a preferred embodiment, the polydopamine solution described above has a pH of 8 to 10.

[0026] Effects of the Invention

[0027] The present invention has the following excellent effects.

[0028] First, by the manufacturing method of the antioxidant suture using plasma pre-treatment according to the present invention, the medical suture is coated with an antioxidant to prevent the suture from being oxidized, thereby solving the problem of the medical suture being cut off during the flow process.

[0029] In addition, after the plasma is pre-treated in the medical suture to increase the hydrophilicity of the surface of the suture, the antioxidant is uniformly coated to manufacture a medical suture with improved tensile strength. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0030] Figure 1 (a) of FIG. 1 is a surface photograph of a suture before oxidation, Figure 1 (b) of FIG. 1 is a surface photograph of a suture after oxidation.

[0031] Figure 2 is a general flowchart for explaining the manufacturing method of the antioxidant suture using plasma pre-treatment in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the process of plasma treatment on the surface of the suture in the plasma pre-treatment step of the manufacturing method of the antioxidant suture using plasma pre-treatment in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] Figure 4is a schematic diagram showing hydrogen bonding between a suture and polyethylene glycol in an embodiment of the present application.

[0034] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing hydrogen bonding between a suture and dopamine in an embodiment of the present application.

[0035] Figure 6 is a graph showing the final load and tensile strength of the antioxidative suture of the comparative example and the embodiments of the present application using plasma pretreatment.

[0036] (Symbol explanation)

[0037] 1: Medical suture

[0038] 1a: Surface of medical suture before plasma pretreatment

[0039] 2: Medical suture after plasma pretreatment

[0040] 2a: Surface of medical suture after plasma pretreatment

[0041] 3: Poly-p-dioxanone

[0042] 4: Polyethylene glycol

[0043] 5: Dopamine DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] As to the terms used in the present application, the general terms currently widely used in the art are selected as much as possible, and in the specific case, the terms selected by the applicant are arbitrarily selected, and in this case, the meaning of the terms should be interpreted based on the meaning of the terms in the detailed description of the invention or the usage, not the mere name of the terms.

[0045] Hereinafter, the technical structure of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0046] However, the present application is not limited to the embodiments described herein, and can be embodied in other forms. Throughout the specification, the same reference numerals refer to the same constituent elements.

[0047] Figure 2 is a general flowchart for explaining the manufacturing method of the antioxidative suture using plasma pretreatment in an embodiment of the present application.

[0048] Referring to the above Figure 2 In the manufacturing method of the antioxidative suture using plasma pretreatment of the present application, first, the plasma pretreatment step of preparing a medical suture and plasma pretreating the surface of the medical suture is performed (S1000).

[0049] In addition, the medical suture described above can be an absorbable suture that is decomposed and absorbed in the body.

[0050] In addition, the medical suture used to manufacture an oxidation-resistant suture using plasma pretreatment according to an embodiment of the present application can be a polydioxanone (PDO) suture.

[0051] The polydioxanone described above is absorbed in the body as a synthetic biodegradable substance, but is easily oxidized due to contact with air, and thus, in the case of an absorbable suture such as a polydioxanone series medical suture, a quality degradation phenomenon frequently occurs when stored after production.

[0052] Therefore, in an embodiment of the present application, the effect of manufacturing an oxidation-resistant suture using plasma pretreatment using the polydioxanone suture described above is confirmed.

[0053] Here, referring to Figure 3 The plasma pretreatment step (S1000) will be described in more detail.

[0054] The polydioxanone described above is absorbed in the body as a synthetic biodegradable substance, but is easily oxidized due to contact with air, and thus, in the case of an absorbable suture such as a polydioxanone series medical suture, a quality degradation phenomenon frequently occurs when stored after production. Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing plasma treatment on the surface of the suture in the plasma pretreatment step according to an embodiment of the present application, and first, a medical suture 1 is prepared (S1100).

[0055] Here, the medical suture surface 1a before plasma pretreatment is in a state in which various impurities such as carbon or hydrogen are attached, and if coating is performed in this state, it is difficult to uniformly apply an oxidation-resistant substance.

[0056] This is because, as the medical suture 1 described above is exposed to air after production, the bonding of molecules constituting the surface of the suture is broken, the activity of the surface becomes high, and external foreign matter is bonded, and then, the activity of the surface of the suture becomes low due to the external foreign matter.

[0057] Next, when the plasma is treated (S1200), the impurities on the medical suture surface 1a are removed through collision with ionized gas (S1300), and thus, the surface is reactivated.

[0058] In addition, the plasma can use oxygen plasma.

[0059] This is because a functional group containing oxygen such as a carboxyl group or a hydroxyl group is formed on the medical suture surface 2a after plasma pretreatment, and the hydrophilicity of the medical suture 2 after the plasma pretreatment step is increased (S1400).

[0060] The medical suture is dipped in the antioxidant substance in the dipping step (S2000) performed after the plasma pretreatment, and then stirring is performed.

[0061] In addition, the antioxidant substance is a polyethylene glycol (PEG) solution or a polydopamine solution.

[0062] In addition, the polydopamine solution can have a pH of 8 to 10.

[0063] This is because, in the acidity range of the solution containing the polydopamine, the aggregation phenomenon of the polymeric substance, i.e., the polydopamine, is less, and thus the hydrogen bond and the van der Waals bond are quickly formed on the suture surface in a less hindered state.

[0064] More specifically, the hydrogen atom of the functional group present in the antioxidant substance and the oxygen atom of the functional group present in the suture form a hydrogen bond, and at the same time, a transient dipole is formed when the antioxidant substance approaches the suture surface, to generate the van der Waals bond of attraction.

[0065] In this regard, reference is made to Figure 4 and Figure 5 and a hydrogen bond between the suture surface and the polyethylene glycol or the polydopamine in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail.

[0066] The polydioxanone 3 constituting the medical suture in the above Figure 4 is composed of a functional group such as a carboxyl group and an ether group, and thus contains an oxygen atom, and the polyethylene glycol 4 is composed of a functional group such as a hydroxyl group, and thus contains a hydrogen atom, and thus a hydrogen bond is formed between the oxygen atom and the hydrogen atom.

[0067] The polydioxanone 3 constituting the medical suture in the above Figure 5 is composed of a functional group such as a carboxyl group and an ether group, and thus contains an oxygen atom, and the monomer of the polydopamine, i.e., dopamine 5, is composed of a functional group such as a hydroxyl group, and thus contains a hydrogen atom, and thus a hydrogen bond is formed between the oxygen atom and the hydrogen atom.

[0068] In addition, the oxygen atom of the functional group containing oxygen, i.e., a carboxyl group or a hydroxyl group, present on the surface 2a of the medical suture after the plasma pretreatment and the hydrogen atom of the functional group present in the antioxidant substance form a hydrogen bond.

[0069] As a result, with the formation of the hydrogen bond and the van der Waals bond, the polydioxanone on the surface of the polydioxanone suture cannot continue to be physically and chemically combined with external oxygen, thereby preventing oxidation of the medical suture.

[0070] Finally, the suture subjected to the dip coating step is dried in a drying step (S3000) and maintained in a state in which the suture surface is completely coated with the antioxidant substance.

[0071] Next, the effects of the present application will be described by way of examples of the manufacturing method of the antioxidant suture using plasma pretreatment according to the present application.

[0072] In the manufacturing method of the antioxidant suture using plasma pretreatment according to the example of the present application, a medical suture composed of polydioxanone is used.

[0073] In the plasma pretreatment step (S1000) performed first, the prepared medical suture is placed in a plasma device and subjected to plasma treatment.

[0074] At this time, in the example of the present application, a covance model of Femto Science Co., Ltd. is used as the plasma device, and the process conditions are set to a process power of 10 W at 50 kHz, a process pressure of 5.00e-3 torr, and a process time of 5 minutes. -1 torr, and a process time of 5 minutes.

[0075] This is because, in the case of treating a suture with plasma under normal atmospheric conditions, excessive heat occurs, and the suture composed of a polymer is damaged by the heat, so the above process conditions are preferable.

[0076] Next, the suture subjected to the plasma pretreatment step is dipped in a polyethylene glycol solution or a polydopamine solution in a dip coating step (S2000) and then stirred.

[0077] More specifically, in the case of the polyethylene glycol solution, polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of 400 g / mol (hereinafter, corresponding to Example 1) and polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of 800 g / mol (hereinafter, corresponding to Example 2) are used.

[0078] More specifically, in the case of the polydopamine solution (hereinafter, corresponding to Example 3), polydopamine is placed in a tris buffer to produce a concentration of 5 wt%, and a pH of 8.5 is formed.

[0079] The dipping process was repeated 5 times in each of Examples 1 and 2, and stirring was performed in a blender at a speed of 100 rpm at room temperature for 24 hours.

[0080] In the case of the above-described Example 3, the above-described impregnation process was repeated 5 times, and stirring was performed in a stirring machine at a normal temperature for 24 hours at a speed of 60 rpm.

[0081] However, in the case of the above-described Example 3, stirring can be performed at a speed of 60 to 120 rpm, but the viscosity of the polydopamine solution used in the above-described Example 3 is less than that of the polyethylene glycol solution used in the above-described Examples 1 and 2, and thus stirring can be performed at a slower speed in Example 3, which is more effective.

[0082] Finally, in the drying step S3000, the suture thread that has undergone the above-described impregnation coating step was placed in a vacuum oven and dried at a temperature of 37°C for 2 hours.

[0083] The suture threads of the Examples manufactured according to the manufacturing method of the antioxidative suture thread using plasma pretreatment according to the present application and the suture threads of the Comparative Examples were compared to explain the effects of the present application.

[0084] Figure 6 is a graph that detects the final load and tensile strength of the antioxidative suture thread of the Comparative Example and the Examples using plasma pretreatment according to the present application.

[0085] The contents of the above-described Figure 6 are arranged in Table 1 below.

[0086] Table 1

[0087]

[0088] In the case of the above-described Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 2, and Comparative Example 3, a tensile test was performed in a state in which the medical suture thread composed of poly-p-dioxanone was not subjected to any treatment.

[0089] As a result, it was confirmed that the tensile strength of the Examples according to the manufacturing method of the antioxidative suture thread using plasma pretreatment according to the present application was increased by about 20% compared to the medical suture threads of Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 2, and Comparative Example 3.

[0090] As a result, it was confirmed that the antioxidative substance was uniformly applied to the suture thread to prevent defects on the surface of the suture thread, thereby reducing the phenomenon of being physically torn.

[0091] As described above, the present application is illustrated and explained by exemplifying preferred examples, but the present application is not limited to the above-described examples, and various changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing an antioxidant suture using plasma pretreatment, characterized in that, The steps include the following: The plasma pretreatment step involves treating the surface of the medical suture with plasma, removing impurities through the collision between the suture surface and the ionized gas, and forming carboxyl or hydroxyl functional groups on the suture surface to achieve hydrophilization. In the dip-coating step, the suture, which has undergone the aforementioned plasma pretreatment step, is immersed in an antioxidant substance and stirred. This causes hydrogen bonds to form between hydrogen atoms in the functional groups of the antioxidant substance and oxygen atoms in the functional groups of the suture. Simultaneously, when the antioxidant substance approaches the surface of the suture, it forms instantaneous dipoles, generating attraction and thus forming van der Waals bonds. The drying step involves drying the sutures that have undergone the above-mentioned dip-coating step.

2. The method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned medical sutures are absorbable sutures that are broken down and absorbed in the body.

3. The method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned medical sutures are polydioxanone sutures.

4. The method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The plasma mentioned above is oxygen plasma.

5. The method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pretreatment pressure for the above-mentioned plasma is 5.00e. -1 The process power supply is 10W, the frequency is 50kHz, and the process time is 5 minutes.

6. The method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The antioxidants mentioned above are polyethylene glycol solutions or polydopamine solutions.

7. The method for manufacturing antioxidant sutures using plasma pretreatment according to claim 6, characterized in that, The above polydopamine solution has a pH of 8 to 10.

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