Hemostatic agent

Abstract: A hemostatic agent, an agent for promoting cellular adhesion and an agent for curing an injury, each comprising an alkali or alkali earth metal salt of carboxylmethyl cellulose, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier are disclosed.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the use of an alkali metal or alkali earth metal solt of carboxymethylcellulose in the manufature of a hemostatic agent in powder form. This hemostatic agent may also exibit a curing action on an injury according to the present invention is assimilatable in a living body, and may be sprinkled on or applied to an injury to a skin surface or an injury at a site of an intracorporeal tissue to accelerate blood coagulation and cellular adhesion. 2. Description of the Related Art Three types of hemostatic agents for injuries are mainly known; an oxidized cellulose preparation, a gelatin preparation and a microfibrous collagen preparation, and these are used as a drug or medical supply. The oxidized cellulose preparation includes polygluconic anhydrides as a main component. The polygluconic anhydride has a strong affinity for hemoglobin, and thus forms a salt with hemoglobin whereby a hemostatic effect is exhibited. It is believed that the above effect to promote coagulation is not due to a blood coagulation process in a living body but to a physical effect. That is, the oxidized cellulose preparation is swollen by an infiltration of blood to promote a formation of brown or black gelatinous clots or coagula, which act as a hemastatic auxiliary agent for a bleeding region. The oxidized cellulose preparation is assimilated in the course of about 2 weeks. The microfibrous collagen preparation contains, as a main component, naturally occurring collagen extracted from bovine dermis or the like, so that it forms a platelet-agglutination upon coming into contact with blood to conduct a hemostasis. The oxidized cellulose preparation does not act directly on the blood coagulation process, and the coagulating effect is poor. Further, a complete assimilation in a living body takes about 2 weeks, and thus it may cause inflammation or conglutination at the site where the oxidized cellulose preparation is applied. The gelatin preparation has a less assimilability than the oxidized cellulose preparation. Also, the gelatin preparation contains materials taken from animals, and there is a high possibility of the transference of infectious diseases, such as a prion disease (or spongiform encephalopathy). Regarding the microfibrous collagen preparation, a complete assimilation thereof takes at least one month, and thus the preparation might cause inflammation or conglutination in an injured site. Further, the materials are taken from a bovine, and thus there is a danger of the occurrence of the prion disease or infectious diseases caused by an unknown virus. In a hemostasis carried out by conventional hemostatic agents as above, defects occur in that the intracorporeal assimilatability of the hemostatic agents is low, the hemostatic agents cause inflammation, conglutination and so on, and the possibility of the occurrence of unknown infectious diseases exists. EP 693 290 A1 describes a hydrocolloidal bandaging material which comprises an elastomeric resin matrix into which at least one hydrocolloidal compound, for example, a sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, is inserted. EP 567 311 A2 describes a hydrocolloidal wound gel composition which cleanse and debride wounds, absorbs wound exudate and which comprises pectin, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, propylene glycol, and water that promotes healing of wounds. US 4 599 209 describes a particulate absorbing wound dressing material obtained by mixing a solution of viscose with, for example, a water soluble sodium carboxymethyl cellulose emulsifying said mixture with a dispersion medium that is not mixable with viscose, shaping the obtained mixture into specimen by thermal treatment such that the specimen are coagulated and particle formation. US 4 292 972 describes a bioabsorbable lyophilized foam sponge product formed the hydrocolloids gelatin, pectin, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose for the treatment of various open wounds and to control visceral bleeding in areas of the body. US 3 328 259 describes a wound dressing in the form of a water-soluble plasma-soluble sodium carboxymethyl cellulose film including a plasticizer that is expected to combine with the plasma in a wound to result in an artificial water insoluble eschar. The film itself is considered to have remarkable hemostatic and medicament-release properties SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present inventors engaged in studies to solve the above problems and as a result found that sodium or calcium of carboxymethyl cellulose with a degree of etherification of 0.5 to 1.5 can be used to prepare an hemostatic agent in powder form. This agent can be used for covering an injury. Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to remedy the defects of prior art and to provide a hemostatic agent wherein the hemostatic action provided is very rapid and effective, an inflammation reaction rarely occurs, an intracorporeal assimilatability is excellent, a curing effect of injuries is high, and an infection by an unknown pathogen can be completely prevented. Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided the use of an alkali metal or alkali earth metal salt of carboxymethyl cellulose with a degree of etherification of 0.5 to 1.5 for the manufacture of a hemostatic agent in the form of powder. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates an effect of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose on an aggregation reaction of fibrin monomers. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An alkali metal salt or an alkali earth metal salt of carboxymethyl cellulose (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a carboxymethyl cellulose salt) which may be used in the present invention is an alkali metal salt or an alkali earth metal salt of a polyfunctional carboxymethyl ether of a cellulose which is etherified with carboxymethyl groups at a part or all of hydroxy groups. The degree of etherification with carboxymethyl groups is 0.5 to 1.5, more preferably 0.6 to 0.95, and most preferably 0.6 to 0.8, to ensure an appropriate water-solubility. The position of the hydroxyl group to be etherified is not particularly limited, that is, one or more hydroxy groups at 2-, 3- and/or 6-positions may be etherified. The average molecular weight of the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt is not particularly limited, but is preferably 100kD to 100000kD, more preferably 100kD to 2000kD, and most preferably 200kD to 1000kD. A low molecular weight carboxylmethyl cellulose salt may be prepared by etherifying a low molecular weight cellulose and converting the etherified cellulose to a salt thereof, or generally, by etherifying a high molecular weight cellulose, and then converting the etherified cellulose to a salt thereof and degrading the salt, or degrading the etherified cellulose and converting the degraded cellulose to a salt thereof. The degradation may be carried out by a known method, such as an electron ray irradiation or γ-ray irradiation. The degradation by the electron ray irradiation or γ-ray irradiation is preferable, because the product is thus sterilized at the same time. The content of the alkali metal or alkali earth metal in the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt used in the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5-13% by weight, more preferably 5-10% by weight, and most preferably 6-8% by weight. The alkali metal is, for example, sodium, potassium or lithium, and the alkali earth metal is, for example, calcium or magnesium. The carboxylmethyl cellulose salt used in the present invention may contain one or more alkali metal or alkali earth metal as above. The hemostatic agent of the present invention may be applied in any form to a site in need of hemostasis, i.e., a stopping or controlling of bleeding. For example, the hemostatic agent may be applied in a solid form as a powder directly to the site in need of hemostasis or via a medical instrument such as a catheter to an intracorporeal site. The site in need of a controlling of bleeding, is, for example, a site of a wound or injury, an opening incised during a surgical operation, or a puncture site remaining open after removing a catheter or dialysis needle. The hemostatic agent, according to the present invention is formulated into a powder form suitable to be applied to the site to which it is to be applied, and may contain one or more carriers suitable for the formulation and known to those skilled in the art. The functional mechanism of the hemostatic agent according to the present invention has not been fully elucidated, but can be speculated upon as follows; it should be understood that the present invention is not limited by the following speculation. Circulating blood exercises physiological functions while always maintaining a flowability. When a blood system encounters a rupture, the circulating blood loses flowability and is gelled. Hemostasis contains two mechanisms, i.e., a primary hemostasis wherein platelets or thrombocytes mainly take part, and a secondary hemostasis wherein plasma components take part. Further, the secondary hemostasis includes an intrinsic coagulation and an extrinsic coagulation. An action exerted upon the primary hemostasis can be determined by measuring the extent of acceleration of the platelet agglutination. It has been found that the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt remarkably accelerates the platelet agglutination by adenosine diphosphate (ADP), whereas the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt does not activate intrinsic or extrinsic aggregating factors in the secondary hemostasis, but the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt remarkably accelerates aggregation from fibrin monomers to fibrin polymers which corresponds to a final step in an intrinsic and extrinsic aggregation cascade. As above, the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt accelerates the agglutination of platelets or thrombocytes via fibrinogen or fibrin monomers, and also accelerates the aggregation of fibrin monomers to fibrin polymers. This implies that the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt acts physically on a fibrinogen molecule or fibrin monomer molecule to thereby exhibit a hemostatic function. Further, as shown in the Examples, the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt remarkably accelerates cellular adhesivity of NIH3T3 cells in the presence of a minimum concentration exhibiting a cellular adhesion of a cellular adhesive protein, such as fibronectin, vitronectin, laminin, collagen or a fibrin monomer. Therefore, the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt can be used as an agent for promoting cellular adhesion. Still further, as shown in the Examples, the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt has an excellent effect of curing injuries, and thus can be used as an agent for curing an injury . Therefore, the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt can be used as a hemostatic agent having a promoting action on cellular adhesion and a curative action on an injury. The carboxylmethyl cellulose salt is highly assimilatable in a living body, and thus can be used as a covering material for an injury to a skin surface or an intracorporeal wound. As above, it has been found that the carboxylmethyl cellulose salt is very useful as a hemostatic agent or as a material for a skin surface or an intracorporeal part of the body, and has a wide applicability as a hemostatic agent or material. Examples The present invention will now be further illustrated by, but is by no means limited to, the following Examples. Preparation Example 1: Preparation of low molecular weight CMC-Na's Carboxylmethyl cellulose sodium salts (CMC-Na's) having various molecular weights were prepared by an electron ray irradiation. More particularly, solid sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (the degree of etherification = 0.8; the content of sodium = 8% by weight) was exposed to electron rays of 20 kGy, 40 kGy, 60 kGy, 80 kGy, or 100 kGy at 10 MeV by CIRCE-II linear accelerator (CGR-McV). The term "Gy" means gray, a unit of a radiation energy, and 1 Gy corresponds to 1 J/kg. Non-irradiated or irradiated sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose was dissolved in distilled water, and lyophilized. Then, the lyophilized product was crushed in a mortar, and the resulting powder was used in the determination of molecular weight and in the following Examples. The molecular weights were determined as follows: The powder of non-irradiated or irradiated sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose was dissolved in a 50 mM tris-HCl buffer containing 0.15M NaCl, and applied in a Sepharose CL-6B column equilibrated with the same buffer to carry out a molecular sieve chromatography. Sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose was detected by a phenol-sulfuric acid method. The results are shown in Table 1. Non-irradiated Irradiated with electron rays 20kGy 40kGy 60kGy 80kGy 100kGy Molecular weight 2000kD 1000kD 800kD 600kD 400kD 200kD Table 1 shows that sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose can be degraded to a low molecular weight compound by an irradiation of electron rays. Example 1: Activity for aggregating fibrin monomers Powdery non-irradiated or irradiated sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) prepared in Preparation Example 1 was dissolved in a 20 mM imidazole buffer containing 0.15M NaCl, to the concentration of 10 mg/ml. To 0.5 ml of the resulting solution, was added 20µl of a fibrin monomer solution (A280nm=6) prepared by dissolving fibrin monomers in 20mM acetic acid, and admixed for 5 seconds. Thereafter, the mixture was poured into a quartz cell having an optical path of 1 cm. After 20 seconds of adding fibrin monomers, an absorbance at 350 nm was measured every 30 seconds for 25 minutes. As a control test, the same procedure was repeated except that the powdery sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose was not used. The absorbance was measured by an ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometer (U-3210; Hitachi Ltd.). The results are shown in Fig. 1, wherein the curve 1 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na not irradiated with electron rays, the curve 2 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na irradiated with 10kGy, the curve 3 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na irradiated with 20kGy, the curve 4 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na irradiated with 40kGy, the curve 5 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na irradiated with 60kGy, the curve 6 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na irradiated with 80kGy, and curve 7 is the result in the presence of CMC-Na irradiated with 100kGy). Further, the curve C shows the result of the control test. Fig. 1 shows that sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose remarkably accelerates the aggregation of fibrin monomers, independently of the irradiation of electron rays, i.e., in its wide molecular weight range. Example 2: Activity to promote cellular adhesion An activity of sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) to promote cellular adhesion of various cellular adhesive proteins when added thereto was examined. A 96-well plate was coated with a cellular adhesive protein, i.e., fibronectin, vitronectin, laminin, collagen or fibrin at various concentrations, and 5000 cells of NIH-3T3 were poured thereon. After 6 hours, cells adhered to the protein were counted. A minimum concentration where the cellular adhesive proteins exhibited a cellular adhesion (minimum cellular-adhesive concentration) was determined. Then, sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) was added in a concentration of 10 mg/ml to a buffer containing the minimum cellular-adhesion concentration of the cellular adhesive proteins, and a 96-well plate was coated with the resulting solution. The same procedure as above was repeated to count the cells adhered to the proteins. The results are shown in Tables 2 and 3. Cellular adhesive proteins Minimum cellular-adhesive concentration (µg/ml) Cells adhered without CMC-Na fibronectin 0.1 20 vitronectin 0.5 10 laminin 0.1 12 collagen I 0.1 5 collagen III 0.1 8 fibrin 0.1 10 Cellular adhesive proteins Cells adhered with CMC-Na Electron ray irradiation (kGy) 0 20 40 60 80 100 fibronectin 60 65 70 62 68 60 vitronectin 50 48 42 46 53 58 laminin 36 40 42 38 42 46 collagen I 25 30 26 38 28 31 collagen III 32 30 28 33 36 33 fibrin 40 39 50 38 41 42 Tables 2 and 3 show that sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose remarkably increases the number of cells adhered, independently of the irradiation of electron rays, i.e., in its wide molecular weight range. Example 3: Hemostatic and injury-healing effects A hemostatic effect and an injury-healing effect of sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose were examined. The hemostatic effect was evaluated in the light of the time required to stop bleeding. Livers of 10 mice were exposed by an abdominal operation, and two square portions (1 cm x 1cm, each) were cut from the surface of each liver to make wounded portions thereof. Powdery sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose was sprinkled on one wounded portion on the liver surface, but not sprinkled on another wounded portion. The two wounded portions were compared to ascertain the time required to stop bleeding. An effect of healing wounded portions was examined as follows. After measuring the time required to stop bleeding, the abdominal region was closed. After one month, the liver was exposed again, and a pathological section was prepared from the portion where powdery sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose had been sprinkled on the wounded portion. The degree of healing was visually evaluated through a microscope. The degree of healing was evaluated in three stages as follows: o ○: Same as normal ○: Slightly inflamed ×: inflamed and conglutinated. The results are shown in Table 4. Mice Nos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Time (seconds) to stop bleeding without CMC-Na 132 140 250 180 100 180 120 138 185 201 Average = 163; CV = 26% Time (seconds) to stop bleeding with CMC-Na 30 28 33 40 38 32 33 26 34 33 Average = 33; CV = 12% Healing degree o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ o ○ (CV = Coefficient of variation) Table 4 shows that sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose remarkably shortens the hemostatic time, and has an excellent hemostatic effect and injury-healing effect, because the wounded portion to which sodium carboxylmethyl cellulose had been added was almost completely recovered without inflammation.

Claims: Use of an alkali metal or alkali earth metal salt of carboxylmethyl cellulose with a degree of etherification of 0.5 to 1.5 in the manufacture of a hemostatic agent in the form of powder. Use of claim 1, wherein the hemostatic agent exhibits a curing action on an injury. Use according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the carboxylmethyl cellulose has an average molecular weight of 100 kD to 100,000 kD. Use according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the content of the alkali metal or alkali earth metal is 5 to 13% by weight.

Inventors: AOSHIMA MOTONORI, SOE GILBU, TAKADA KOICHI, AOSHIMA, MOTONORI, SOE, GILBU, TAKADA, KOICHI, Aoshima, Motonori, c/o Hogy Medical Co., Ltd., Soe, Gilbu, c/o Hogy Medical Co., Ltd., Takada, Koichi, c/o Hogy Medical Co., Ltd.
Applicants: HOGY MEDICAL CO LTD, HOGY MEDICAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: A61K31
IPC codes: A61P7, A61L15, A61P17, A61K31, A61P43