GC-MS helps prove healing qualities of maggots

Researchers have used gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) techniques in an effort to explore the healing qualities of Lucilia sericata larvae - otherwise known as maggots.

According to an extract from Lipids in Health and Disease, fatty acids are known to be "effective components to promote wound healing" and they were extracted from dry larvae to investigate their remedial powers.

"Component analysis of the fatty acid extracts by GC-MS showed there were ten kinds of fatty acids in total," the publication stated, adding that the technology allowed scientists to calculate ratios.

GC-MS is a method that blends features of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to separate different substances within test samples.

The results showed that four-fifths of the samples from dried Lucilia sericata larvae were unsaturated fatty acids, with testing revealing that the curative potential of these lipids was higher than those of a Vaseline control group after three, seven and ten days.