Low Toxicity Silicone Adhesive

Benefits

• Low toxicity surgical adhesive
• Rapid cure time

Applications

• Neuroscience and nerve studies
• Biomedical applications

Kwik-Sil and Kwik-Cast silicone adhesives have very low toxicity before, during and after curing. The by-product of curing is a small amount of hydrogen gas, which is much less toxic to cells than acetic acid or alcohol from traditional RTV silicone systems. 

Kwik-Sil and Kwik-Cast curing speed is hundreds of times faster than traditional RTV silicones. A curing time of a few minutes at room temperature is especially useful for encapsulation of live tissue or implanting into a live animal. Unlike many vinyl-based silicones in which the platinum complex catalysts are easily poisoned by contamination from amines and animal tissue, Kwik-Sil and Kwik-Cast  surgical adhesives are not sensitive to contamination from animal tissue.

Kwik-Sil™ is a translucent, medium-viscosity silicone adhesive, developed for chronic peripheral nerve studies such as anterograde tracing with fluorescent indicators or electrode recording. Good adhesion and mechanical properties (tear strength and elongation) allow days of study without breaking of the bonding. Curing speed is very reproducible.

Kwik-Cast™ is a very low viscosity silicone sealant developed to embed peripheral nerves with electrodes for acute multi-fiber recordings. It flows easily, filling the small spaces around the nerve and leaving no channels through which peritoneal fluid can travel and thus short the nerve/electrode contact. Equally important is the ability of the material to flow into itself and create one continuous mass from underneath the nerve all the way to the top of the nerve/electrode contact to ensure long-term recording stability. Kwik-Cast is color-coded to make the mixing foolproof. The catalyst is yellow and the base is blue. When uniformly mixed, it is green. Kwik-Cast can be applied and cured underneath mineral oil. After recording, electrodes are easily recovered due to the low tear strength. The slight longer curing time (approx. 3 minutes) makes it more suitable for stationary preparations and in vitro tissue studies.

New Tip Design

Kwik-Sil and Kwik-Cast now come with a new tip design. The new tip is engineered to minimize leakage.

Curing Time

The properties of this bio-compatible surgical adhesive make it exceptionally useful for neuroscience applications, peripheral nerve studies and similar biomedical applications. These  silicone elastomers also eliminate the mess and time involved in pre-mixing other commonly used formulations (such as Wacker SilGel® and Sylgard®). Each silicone elastomer is packaged in a double barrel syringe and is automatically mixed when pressed out of the mixer tip provided. It can then be applied directly to the tissue without further mixing. The curing time of these silicone adhesives is short, reliable and reproducible. This eliminating potential costly guesswork when using other tissue adhesives. The curing process does not produce any heat, which can  cause tissue damage. WPI's silicone elastomers are much less toxic than dental silicone, because they contain no surfactant additives.

The silicone adhesive inside the syringes cannot be sterilized by any means including UV, gamma, H2O2, autoclaving or EtO.
The exterior and the tips can be immersed in or wiped with 70/30 alcohol or you can use a liquid sterilant like Cidex OPA (WPI P/N 7364-4) or Rapicide OPA (WPI P/N 504611).

Q&A

Q: I want to use KwikSil surgical glue in my "imaging" experiments in rats. How do I get rid of the bubbles completely, or at least reduce them as much as possible?

A: The bubbles are hydrogen gas that is released as a by-product of the curing process. The cure happens in such a short period that the gas can't escape. A slower cure time might help. To slow the cure process, cool the material before mixing. 

KWIK-CAST & KWIK-SIL Specifications

KWIK-CAST Silicone Casting Compound (two 5-mL syringes)

KWIK-SIL Silicone Adhesive Compound (two 5-mL syringes)

* 3 minutes average with about 90 seconds of liquidity

** no longer mixable at this point