The crucial role platelets play in repairing our bodies has long been understood. Platelets contain a variety of growth initiators and promoters, as well as other complex molecules to assist in repair they also help to localise and identify the area of damage; providing the signals necessary to begin and maintain the period of repair. In a bid to replicate our body's method of repair PRP or platelet rich plasma has become a popular therapeutic route especially amongst sportsmen and women.
Until now PRP derived from blood has been the preferred method for assisting in the difficult rehabilitation from some muscular and soft tissue injuries. However improved this technique may be it is still fraught with problems as it is continually difficult to localise the PRP to the area in need of repair, and clinical reports on the whole are still very mixed in terms of the quality of long term repair and speed of repair. A further problem with PRP is that it is not cheap and formulation is not trivial so ruling out this method of rehabilitation for so many with injuries of this kind.
This may be about to change as scientists have developed a new active form of bioactive plasma based biomaterial or PMB. The first difference you notice with PMBs; it uses the whole of the plasma and available platelets unlike PRP which discards the plasma which actually has healing properties itself.
Additionally PMBs are not expensive and have the added bonus of being available off the shelf, thus cutting sometimes lengthy manufacture times witnessed when putting together PRPs.
Trials still continue, but PMBs may signify a much welcomed step in the rehabilitation of our sportsmen and women with soft tissue, cartilage and ligament injuries.