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An in vitro method for the quantitative determination of the antimicrobial efficacy of silver-containing wound dressings

An in vitro method for the quantitative determination of the antimicrobial efficacy of silver-containing wound dressings

Gaisford, Simon, Beezer, Anthony E., Bishop, Alistair H., Walker, Michael and Parsons, David (2008) An in vitro method for the quantitative determination of the antimicrobial efficacy of silver-containing wound dressings. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 366 (1-2). pp. 111-116. ISSN 0378-5173 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2008.09.005)

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Abstract

Treatment with silver-containing wound dressings is becoming an increasingly popular strategy to eliminate growth of opportunistic wound pathogens during the healing process. However, there are concerns over the possible side-effects of silver to the patient; coupled to the cost of silver as an ingredient there is a desire to ensure that wound dressings contain the least quantity of active ingredient to ensure the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of silver is maintained in the wound environment. This requires the ability to determine the efficacy of silver directly within the wound environment; an extremely complicated task that is difficult using classical (plate counting) microbiological assays because these cannot be conducted in situ. Here,we report a quantitativemethod for determining the efficacy of silver in wound dressings using an isothermal calorimetricmethod. The growth curves of P. aeruginosa (NCIMB 8628)were recorded in growth medium and in growth medium containing AQUACEL® Ag Hydrofiber® dressing. It was found that 10mg of dressing was sufficient to ensure no detectable growth of organism in 2.5mL of medium inoculated to 106 cfu/mL. This corresponded to a silver load of 1.1×10−6 moles (equivalent to 4.4×10−4 M, in the volume of medium used in the experiment). Experiments conducted with silver nitrate rather than dressing indicated the MBC of silver against P. aeruginosa was 1×10−4 M. The results suggested that not all of the silver in the dressing was bioavailable, at least over the lifetime of the experiment. One advantage of this effect would be the lack of excess availability of the silver, which allays fears of potential toxicity to the patient and may provide an extended period of time over which the dressing is bactericidal.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: [1] Available online 11 September 2008.
Uncontrolled Keywords: silver-containing wound dressings, AQUACEL® Ag Hydrofiber® dressing, isothermal calorimetry, P. aeruginosa, efficacy
Subjects: R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
R Medicine > RS Pharmacy and materia medica
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute
Faculty of Engineering & Science
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 27 Sep 2019 12:12
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/9101

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