Abstract
BACKGROUND: Antiseptic wound ointments are increasing importance from safety, microbiological and public health points of view. Previously, Rosenblatt et al. (2017) has assessed polygalacturonic acid (PG) + caprylic acid (CAP) solution for biofilm eradication efficacy and cytotoxicity. In this study, we assessed biofilm eradication and cytotoxicity of PG+CAP wound ointment compared with commercially available wound ointment comparators. METHODS: Assessment of antimicrobial efficacy was conducted using a well-established biofilm model. Twenty-four-hour biofilm was formed on silicone discs and exposed wound ointments for 2 hours. Discs were then sonicated and cultured to quantitate any remaining viable biofilm. To assess cytotoxic effects of wound ointments, L-929 fibroblasts were exposed to 2% extracts of each ointment. The trypan exclusion test was used to access cell viability and Alamar blue was used to assess metabolic function. Ointments tested include, PG+CAP formulated in an inert ointment base, benzalkonium chloride quaternary ammonia antiseptic ointment (BZK), polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) antiseptic ointment, and 2-hydroxyethylcellulose + glycerol inert ointment base. Untreated fibroblast cells were used as controls. RESULTS: Within 2 hours of exposure, PG+CAP ointment able to completely eradicate C. albicans (CA), MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PS), and MRSA. Additionally, PG+CAP was significantly more efficacious than BZK for MRSA (P = 0.002) and PS (P = 0.015) and PHMB for MRSA (P = 0.02). In the trypan blue exclusion test PG+CAP yielded 96.29% viable cells compared with 77.83% and 83.25%, for the QUAT and PHMB ointments, respectively. Fibroblasts treated with 2% PG+CAP, retained 86.6% of metabolic activity compared with untreated cells while the QUAT and PHMB ointments retained 37.5% and 44.5% metabolic activity, respectively. CONCLUSION: PG+CAP has enhanced effects on eradication of biofilm in vitro as well as less toxicity in vitro relative to the antiseptic wound ointments. Further in vivo studies are warranted. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.