We present results to show that a commercially available polypropylene suture filament (Ethicon Prolene), following annealing and tensile creep can, after creep load removal, release viscoelastically stored energy over a period of several weeks. Specifically, over 0.1–1000 h, the suture undergoes a time-dependent contraction of ~4% and, following a short recovery time (~3 min) to a fixed strain, produces a progressively increasing recovery force of ~0.1–1 N. We suggest that this time-dependent energy release may facilitate wound healing by the action of viscoelastically induced mechanotransduction (VIM). Moreover, our recent (published) findings have led to evidence of reduced hydrophobicity from viscoelastically recovering polymeric filaments and speculation that this may emanate from the long-term release of electric charges. Thus, we propose that the latter may enhance the VIM mechanism. In this paper, we report on the direct detection of these charges and the first findings from an investigation involving the presence of cell cultures on Prolene samples that are (i) viscoelastically recovering, (ii) annealed only and (iii) in as-received condition. From (i), the results demonstrate a significant increase in cell motility, with migration towards the suture, compared to (ii) and (iii). This suggests greater stimulation of the wound healing process, an effect which is expected to continue for the duration of the viscoelastic recovery period.

我们目前的结果表明，可商购的聚丙烯缝合线（Ethicon Prolene），经过退火和拉伸蠕变后，在消除蠕变载荷后，可以在数周内释放粘弹性存储的能量。具体而言，在0.1–1000 h内，缝线经历约4％的时间依赖性收缩，并在短时间内（约3分钟）恢复到固定应变，产生逐渐增加的约0.1–1 N的恢复力。我们建议这种时间依赖性的能量释放可能通过粘弹性诱导的机械传导（VIM）的作用促进伤口愈合。此外，我们最近的（已发表的）发现导致了由粘弹性恢复的聚合物细丝引起的疏水性降低的证据，并且推测这可能是由于电荷的长期释放所致。因此，我们建议后者可以增强VIM机制。在本文中，的Prolene样品被（ⅰ）粘弹性恢复，（ⅱ）仅退火和（iii）在作为接收到的条件。根据（i），结果表明，与（ii）和（iii）相比，随着向缝线的迁移，细胞运动性显着增加。这表明对伤口愈合过程有更大的刺激作用，预期这种作用会在粘弹性恢复期间持续。