The sea squirt waste utilization for pain managable ultrasonic gel

초록

Sea squirt has been traditional seafood in Asia, however, its rigid shell consisting of cellulose has deterred its useful transformation into valuable materials. In Korea, around 7000 tons of sea squirt waste are produced per year, and it is assumed that one million dollars has to be spent on waste disposal. The value added material transformation is necessitated. Cellulose is one of the abundant polysaccharides in nature and has been processed into diverse forms such as gels, films, fibers, and others. Especially, its remarkable water absorption ability accompanied by durable mechanical properties has extended its application categories into medical usages, specifically fillers, dressing grafts, and ultrasonic gels, which have been manufactured by synthetic polymers. Here, the sea squirt cellulose was extracted through alkali extraction for deproteination, delignification and bleaching steps to exploit it as a ultrasonic gel substance. This optimized process generates g-scale cellulose per 3 L batch, and further steps were followed to incorporate methyl group (CMC: Carboxymethyl cellulose). This cellulose powder was blended with promising RNA-based treatment targets with adjusted rheological properties. The gel was investigated under continuous theta burst ultrasound (cTBUS-200Hz) stimulation to examine the potential as a transdermal drug delivery carrier and neuropathic pain relief effect.