Australian Researchers Say Desert Flower A Good Device Coating
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
Researchers say a plant that grows in the Australian desert has shown to be capable of being used to coat biomedical devices such as hip transplants. The University of South Australia team said it extracted 11 serrulatane diterpenes compounds from the leaves of eremophilia plants and found they have the same power as antibiotics to kill bacteria. The same team also developed a way to bond the compounds to plastic and metal materials that are used in some devices for hearts and other sites particularly vulnerable to bacteria. The plant was studied because it has been used by indigenous Australians as a traditional treatment for skin ointments and throat infections. (Click here for more