People in Singapore consume a lot of fish and frog meat and now, researchers have uncovered a way to put the waste from those ingredients to good use. Their research shows potential for using fish scales and frog skin to create bone repair material. 

Usually, when someone is born without a piece of their bone, the material is taken from another bone in the body to fill in the gap. This works fairly well, but it also weakens the bone the material is sourced from. 

A team from Nanyang Technological University extracted collagen from frog skin and a calcium-phosphate compound from fish scales which when combined, form a three-dimensional porous scaffolding-type material. When bone cells are planted onto this material, they quickly begin to grow and spread. 

The technique uses material that would otherwise be wasted to offer an effective medical solution for those born without bone fragments. Although more research must be done before this technique can be tested in humans, the researchers note that in trials, the technique does not appear to elicit an inflammatory response in the immune system, which is the biggest hurdle when introducing animal-based materials into human bodies. 

Source study: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore – Bullfrog skin and fish scales for bone repair