A surfactant‐based wound dressing can reduce bacterial biofilms in a porcine skin explant model

Abstract
Bacterial biofilms have been found in many, if not all, chronic wounds. Their excessive extracellular matrix secretion and the metabolic changes that they undergo render them highly tolerant of many antibiotic and antimicrobial treatments. Physical removal and/or disruption are a common approach to treating wounds suspected of having bacterial biofilms. While many of these techniques use mechanical energy as the primary means of removal, we have begun to investigate if surfactants could facilitate the removal of bacterial biofilms, or if they might sensitise the biofilms to antimicrobial interventions. We tested a new surfactant‐based wound gel on an ex vivo porcine skin explant model infected with a functionally tolerant 3‐day biofilm. The wounds were dressed with a surfactant‐based gel directly on the wound or with moistened gauze. The wounds were then wiped daily with moistened gauze, and the gel or gauze was re‐applied. Each day, an explant from each group was harvested and tested for total viable bacteria counts and viable biofilm‐protected bacteria counts. The results show that daily wiping with moistened gauze led to an initial decrease of bacteria, but by day 3, the biofilm had been fully re‐established to the same level prior to the beginning of treatment. For the surfactant‐based treatment, there was no detectable functional biofilm after the first treatment. The gauze control, which was also subjected to daily wiping, still contained function...

Source: International Wound Journal - May 23, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Qingping Yang, Christelle Larose, Alessandra C Della Porta, Gregory S Schultz, Daniel J Gibson Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research