Morphological, cytotoxicity, and coagulation assessments of perlite as a new hemostatic biomaterial

Abstract

Hemorrhage control is vital for clinical outcomes after surgical treatment and pre-hospital trauma injuries. Numerous biomaterials have been investigated to control surgical and traumatic bleeding. In this study, for the first time, perlite was introduced as an aluminosilicate biomaterial and compared with other ceramics such as kaolin and bentonite in terms of morphology, cytotoxicity, mutagenicity, and hemostatic evaluations. Cellular studies showed that perlite has excellent viability, good cell adhesion, and high anti-mutagenicity. Coagulation results demonstrated that the shortest clotting time (140 seconds with a concentration of 50 mg mL⁻¹) was obtained for perlite samples compared to other samples. Therefore, perlite seems most efficient as a biocompatible ceramic for hemorrhage control and other biomaterial designs.