The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Ateneo de Manila University researchers have discovered that milkfish (bangus) skin– a product of aquaculture– could provide a low-cost option for treating patients with major burns and other serious injuries.
With bangus being widely farmed across the country, the team, led by Janice Alano Ragaza and Bianca Patrice Go from the Ateneo Department of Biology’s Aquatic and Fisheries Resources Laboratory, believes that the skin could be used as a sustainable, locally sourced alternative for wound care.
The method, they said, not only reduces dependency on imported materials but also minimizes waste by utilizing fish skin that would otherwise be discarded.
“Among the economically significant fish species in the Philippines, bangus is one of the most widely cultivated. However, limited research has been conducted on the suitability of milkfish skin for wound care,” newspapers reported of their findings.
“Given its abundance and potential collagen content, milkfish skin presents a valuable opportunity to expand the donor pool for fish skin grafting,” they added.
In comparison
While fish skin is not a new concept in wound care, this is the first time that bangus skin has been explored locally for this purpose. Previous studies have mainly focused on tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) skin for similar applications.
The researchers compared “fresh, impurity-free” bangus and tilapia skin samples collected from Cubao Farmers Market.
After rinsing the skin with saline solution to remove blood and contaminants, they cut the skin into 3 cm by 2 cm strips. A total of 24 strips were prepared, with some being treated with a solution of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) for sterilization, while others were left untreated for control purposes.
Results showed that untreated bangus fish skin strips showed an overwhelming number of microbial colonies on nutrient agar, making them difficult to count.
However, the AgNP-treated bangus skin strips demonstrated complete inhibition of microbial growth, with no colonies present.
A similar outcome was observed with tilapia fish skin strips, which also exhibited too many microbial colonies when untreated. AgNP-treated tilapia skin strips, on the other hand, prevented any microbial growth across all tests. complex wounds like diabetic ulcers, burns, and traumatic injuries.