Chitosan/Diatom-Biosilica Aerogel with Controlled Porous Structure for Rapid Hemostasis

Uncontrolled hemorrhage is the main reason of possible preventable death after accidental injury. It is necessary to develop a hemostatic agent with rapid hemostatic performance and good biocompatibility. In this study, a chitosan/diatom-biosilica-based aerogel is developed using dopamine as cross-linker by simple alkaline precipitation andtert-butyl alcohol replacement. The chitosan/diatom-biosilica aerogel exhibits favorable biocompatibility and multiscale hierarchical porous structure (from nanometer to micrometer), which can be controlled by the concentration oftert-butyl alcohol. The displacement oftert-butyl alcohol can keep the porosity of diatom-biosilica in aerogel and give it large surface with efficient water absorption ratio. 30%tert-butyl alcohol replacement of aerogel possesses the largest surface area (74.441 m(2)g(-1)), water absorption capacity (316.83 +/- 2.04%), and excellent hemostatic performance in vitro blood coagulation (approximate to 70 s). Furthermore, this aerogel exhibits the shortest clotting time and lowest blood loss in rat hemorrhage model. The strong interface effect between aerogel and blood is able to promote erythrocytes aggregation, platelets adhesion, and activation, as well as, activate the intrinsic coagulation pathway to accelerate blood coagulation. All the above results demonstrate that chitosan/diatom-biosilica aerogel has great potential to be a safe and rapid hemostatic material.