TY  - JOUR
T1  - Comparison of the antimicrobial effect of PHMB- and silver-containing wound dressings using different in vitro test methods
LA  - English
AU  - Wiegand, Cornelia
AU  - Abel, Martin
AU  - Ruth, Peter
AU  - Hipler, Uta Christina
AB  - Introduction: 
Wound dressings with antimicrobial agents are increasingly utilized in the management of critical colonized or infected chronic wounds. The dressings’ antibacterial activities are mostly evaluated using in-vitro-tests.  These may differ significantly in their properties and outcome. We have analyzed the antibacterial effect of PHMB- and silver-dressings using in-vitro-methods such as the agar diffusion test (ADT), contact tests like JISL1902:2002 or AATCC100, microplate-laser nephelometry (MLN) and luminometric quantification of bacterial ATP (LQb). 

Materials & Methods: 
Antibacterial activity of the dressings was tested against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ADT was performed according to DIN58940-3 with samples of 0.6 cm2. For AATCC100 samples sizes of 18 cm2 and for JISL1902:2002 of 400 mg were used. Dressing extracts were prepared corresponding to DIN10993-12 for MLN and LQb.

Results: 
PHMB- and silver-dressings showed antibacterial activity in all tests. Yet, total effectiveness varied for single methods and properties of the basic dressing materials without active agent (such as alginate, cellulose, or polyurethane). Alginate, cellulose, or polyurethane alone had no effect in ADT. In contrast, alginate showed a strong antibacterial activity in the contact tests (JISL1902:2002, AATCC100) because it is able to sequester bacteria during gel formation. MLN and LQb only determined a bactericidal effect on S. aureus and P. aeruginosa for the agent-containing dressings.

Conclusions: 
Using in-vitro-tests for the evaluation of the antibacterial activity allows quantification and direct comparison of dressings’ effectiveness under standard conditions. Various test methods are available that differ in their properties and hence in their outcome, this has to be taken into account when selecting a specific test and interpreting the results.
PY  - 2012
SN  - 0906-6705
SP  - 48
JF  - Experimental dermatology
ER  -