Stiches made of Brown Thread as an Innovation by IPB Vets

In the biomedical department, silk strings from white silkworms (Bombix morii or B. Mori silkworms) are generally used as surgical sewing thread. This silk thread is used as surgical sewing thread to accelerate the healing process of open wounds on soft tissue. Besides silkworms, there is an alternative of using Brown silk thread from Attacus atlas Linn wild moth. (A. atlas).

Dr. Mokhamad Fakhrul Ulum from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FKH) Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) managed to innovate a surgical suture thread from brown silk produced by wild moths or commonly known as elephant butterflies.

"Indonesian elephant butterflies are close relatives of silk-producing butterflies. The resulting silk has the potential to replace silk as raw material for the manufacture of surgical threads. This is a domestic surgical thread product, A. atlas silk thread has brown color and has proven to be clinically superior in animals, "he said.

Test results that have been carried out in the laboratory and in the field have proven that brown silk has better properties than silk B. mori. This researcher explains that with simple technology and lower production costs, this brown silk yarn has the potential to fulfill and substitute (substitute) national biomedical implant products that have been imported from abroad.

"The advantage of this product is that it has good anti-bacterial specifications and can be accepted by the body and does not cause excessive body rejection reactions such as allergies, compared to surgical threads that are commonly used. This thread also has a natural brown color that stands out so it does not require additional dyes in its production, "he said. (AVR)