# Nature-inspired Aqueous Biodegradable Adhesives for Abdominoplasty

> **NIH NIH R41** · ALEO BME, INC. · 2020 · $251,989

## Abstract

Project Summary
Seroma is the most common adverse effect of many surgical procedures and is estimated to occur in up to half
of all abdominoplasties. Because abdominoplasty is one of the most commonly performed aesthetic procedures
in the United States (150,000/year) seroma formation is a major concern. Problems related to seroma
accumulation include patient discomfort, incisional disruption and surgical site infection. These problems lead
to additional undesirable procedures, diminish cosmetic outcomes and significantly escalate healthcare costs.
Various strategies have been utilized to mitigate postoperative seroma occurrence including surgical approach,
talc instillation, closed suction drains, immobilization, fibrin/thrombin sprays, compression, and sclerosants. All
of the approaches seek to obliterate the dead space by facilitating the re-adherence of disrupted tissue planes.
Currently available commercial adhesives include fibrin glues and biopolymers, such as BioGlue®/Tisseel® and
TissuGlu®, respectively. These products are limited by their poor performance in aqueous environments, weak
adhesion on wet tissues, short degradation time, dangerously high swelling ratios, and/or cytotoxicity due to toxic
chemical crosslinking for adhesion. Clinical outcomes are often unsatisfactory and post-operative seroma
formation is common even when the current adhesives are used as an adjunct to drains. The Objective of this
STTR Phase I proposal is to develop Aleo BME’s proprietary super-strong and elastic biphasic glue (BP Glue)
for the prevention of post-operative seroma following abdominoplasty. The novelty of BP Glue lies in the
adoption of a unique adhesion mechanism that combines a plant-inspired bioadhesion strategy and particle
packing theory borrowed from the cement industry for the development of an aqueous biomimetic wet tissue
adhesive for seroma control in abdominoplasty. The scientific premise of the proposal is as follows; 1) BP Glue
is the first aqueous super-strong elastic tissue adhesive to achieve equivalent shear strengths (80 KPa)
to Dermabond® (cyanoacrylate) and TissuGlu® through physical bonding. No toxic chemical crosslinking
is involved in BP Glue adhesion; 2) BP Glue is effective to prevent seroma formation in a preclinical animal
model, and 3) BP Glue adhesion mechanism simulates that of English-Ivy under which nanoparticles secreted
by English-Ivy are ionically crosslinked to form an inter-locking capable of binding to rough surfaces, such as
buildings, trees or biological tissues in combination with that of particle packing theory under which compositing
particles with optimal size difference maximizes the cohesive strength of the resultant composite materials. The
expected outcome of this proposal is that we will develop a new fully synthetic, bioinspired, elastic, and super-
strong biodegradable aqueous adhesive sealant, BP Glue with superior physiochemical properties over the
existing adhesives to address the challenging ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10080783
- **Project number:** 1R41EB030462-01
- **Recipient organization:** ALEO BME, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Chao Liu
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $251,989
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-03 → 2022-09-02

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10080783

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10080783, Nature-inspired Aqueous Biodegradable Adhesives for Abdominoplasty (1R41EB030462-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10080783. Licensed CC0.

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